Ron Weasley and the Philosopher's Stone
by HarryBond007
Summary: Time Travel. This is a story to give Ron the spotlight, his character won't be altered but he will be put on a spot where he is the one that will need to take the decisions. It won't always turn up good but I'm sure it will be cool.
1. The Man From Abroad

The rain started as a soft drizzle, barely visible from the high windows of the old neighbourhood. On the sidewalks the worn cobblestones were being covered by a thin layer of moist that made them slippery to the anyone walking down the street, the people there were hurrying their paces trying to get to their destinations before the water came with its real strength.

It was an ordinary afternoon at Low Baker Rd, maybe a little colder than expected but nothing unusual at all. The local businesses had closed early but they always did so on weekends, they were mostly butcheries or small food markets and their busiest hours were on the mornings. Low Baker Rd was a humble place, the inhabitants of its old buildings were not poor but they were not wealthy by any means, still they enjoyed jolly lives with their families there and they wouldn't change that for prettier streets.

The drizzle remained as it was for some time but eventually the downpour broke for real.

Summer rains were a common thing, specially that far east of the country, the people on the street knew it and of course they were prepared. Soon a dozen umbrellas sprung in the air as everyone dispersed looking for shelter and in no time the place looked deserted, only a lonely car passed with its windscreen wipers moving rapidly from side to side. The rain was raging furiously everywhere, well everywhere except for a small alley at the middle of the block, its wide awnings covered a great part of the passage and it was too narrow for the angle of the raindrops to fully make it to its floor.

The alley appeared to be empty and almost foreign to the outside noise of water hitting on the pavement, between its walls a few trickles was all what disturbed its relative peace. However something else was going to bother that peace quite soon.

Crack!

The noise had been loud as a car backfiring and after it a dark figure appeared in the middle of the alley. The figure came out of nowhere and immediately rushed against the nearest wall, then a white light shone on the alley and everything became clearer.

The large cloak was deep brown and beneath it a young and nervous man was moving his head swiftly to both sides trying to see if he was alone. He had a squared face and his short hair was a brown so dark that it was almost black, under his cloak he was wearing the weirdest business suit ever which was of greyish blue but with thick yellow stripes. The white light now shinning in the alley came from the tip of a wooden stick that the man was gripping with all his strength, he was moving it around as if it was some kind of dangerous weapon.

This man was a wizard.

As strange as that may sound it was the truth, he seemed to have appeared out of thin air because that was exactly what he did. It was called apparition and allowed a wizard to travel very long distances almost instantly, he used it commonly as any respectable wizard would do. The wooden stick on his hand was no torch, it was his magic wand which he had received at a very young age when he started his wizarding education and if he wanted to he could use it as a dangerous weapon throwing all kind of curses out of it. Just as him there were many wizards and witches living in the world in very organized communities, they had hid their existence at plain sight for thousands of years without anybody even noticing a thing.

After a moment the wizard realized that he was alone and he began to calm down, his breathing slowed a bit and eventually he lowered his wand, the white light dimmed until it was as bleary as the rest of the lights on the alley. He sighed with great heaviness and leaned his head against the wall. The rain had been crashing constantly against that building, the angle of the drops didn't allowed it to reach the bottom of the alley but still the bricks were dripping like a waterfall. Soon the man noticed the water over his head and jumped away, his cloak was soaked but if he noticed it he didn't seem to care.

Slowly the man walked to the very back of the alley throwing occasional glances at his back. Once there he moved his eyes across the wall until they stopped at a slightly green brick, he took a long breath and tapped it with his wand thrice.

An amazing thing happened then, out of the brick came a green doorknob made of stone with tiny silver snakes carved around it. The wizard didn't give any sign of surprise and he turned the knob with a shaking hand, a whole chunk of the wall slid into the black shadows of the building as if it was the most normal door in the world. The man gave a step forward.

"Are you scared, Pucey?" a rasping voice said right next to the man's ear.

The man was startled but when he tried to move he realized that something was holding both of his arms. He was pushed into the darkness, the brick door closed with a creaking sound and everything was black.

Another voice laughed squeakily, "I bet he is."

Adrian Pucey seemed to recognize the voices and he stop trying to move out of the grip but he remained tense. "I am here to see your boss"

"You're late" said the first voice.

"Have you been following me?"

"We're always on you, traitor" said the second voice and pushed Adrian one more time.

A pale light came then and brightened the room, it was a small place with a gloomy aisle right in front of them. Adrian saw the two men faces, not that he needed to because he already knew who they were.

The muscular man with the rasping voice was Marcus Flint, he had attended with him to Hogwarts years ago. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the school where all the British wizards and witches went to receive their magical education, it was divided in four houses that honoured its founders. Marcus and Adrian had both been on Slytherin, the house of the cunning they called it.

Bilgi was the last name of the other man, slightly short but not easily scared. His hair was black with a little bit of grey and as messy as the thick moustache under his nose. As most of the other men he was from another country, Turkish perhaps. Adrian could not remember his first name.

With a complaining snort Adrian moved forward.

The walk through the aisle was short but it helped as a last moment for Adrian to think on what he was going to say. He had gone a long way with this and he needed to end it soon.

By instinct he turned to look at Marcus. The thick jacket that he was wearing made him look even bigger than he was, he was even dressing like them now. Adrian had met Marcus playing Quiddith for their house at Hogwarts, Quidditch was the most popular wizarding sport and the competition had always been enjoyable. Of course the war came and now there was nothing more that he shared with his old classmate.

Laughs and words of a rough language got louder as they moved towards the end of the aisle. For a moment Adrian was nervous about what he was going to find in there or who would he meet but when they stopped he discovered a pretty similar scene as the previous times.

The room was big enough to hold a table and an old cabinet with bottles of firewhiskey, green and silver posters decorated its walls giving Adrian mixed feelings, even so it was the rusty door at the end which caught his attention. The place was well illuminated and three people were distinguishable at the table, they were having a lively conversation that Adrian couldn't understand. The man on the left had something similar to a splint on his arm and the one on the right had a fresh scar over his face. Adrian was only interested on the one in the middle.

"You're late boy" that man said, he was smiling and it didn't seemed like he really cared about the delay.

The black haired man was in his forties, he had a pointy nose that fitted his pointy chin but his distinctive feature were his unnaturally pale eyes, ghostly blue eyes. He was tough but silver-tongued and he had a coarse accent that Adrian couldn't place. All of Adrian's visits had been directed to him but he didn't even know his name, the man said that he didn't need to. Adrian could only think of him as the _foreigner_.

Adrian knew very little about that man, only what the others had slipped in his presence. He had fought on the first war but had escaped when _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ fell. For years the _foreigner_ established a lot of contacts on many countries and when the second war came he kept doing just that with the direct approval of _You-Know-Who_. The final battle had exploded so suddenly that the _foreigner_ couldn't join on time, although it was clear that he had been supporting rogue Death Eaters since then.

They called themselves _the_ _Dark Company_.

"I'm too old to be called a boy" answered Adrian.

The _foreigner_ smiled playfully, "And to naive to be called a man in my opinion. But I am curious though, how old are you Pucey?"

"Twenty-six"

" Twenty-six eh? Good, good. Have a seat please" the _foreigner_ said making a gesture to the place right in front of him. Adrian moved towards the chair. The man turned to look at Marcus and Bilgi, "Join us and grab a bottle, this one is already empty. Bring glasses, one for my friend Adrian too."

"For the traitor?" Marcus spat. Adrian hated being called a traitor, he never betrayed them, he never was one of them.

"I don't care if he's a traitor as long as he's a guest" the _foreigner_ insisted without losing his smile.

Marcus and Adrian glared at each other for a moment but soon Marcus went to the cabinet to get that bottle, Bilgi sat as close to the _foreigner_ as possible.

Once the drinks were served Adrian spoke directly to the _foreigner_, "So, are you going to free Emily?"

The man was surprised by the question, "Who? The girl?... oh, no, not yet. We haven't finished our part, we are not sure what would you do if we did that now."

The young man looked sad but not surprised, "I thought so... but are you keeping your promise? she hasn't been hurt, right?"

"Of course not, who are you taking me for? Haven't you talked to her several times now? I'm a man of my word."

"Are you going to let me see her then?" Adrian asked hopefully.

"We'll see about that once that we finish our little businesses."

Adrian was taken aback, "What businesses? You have what you wanted. I'm done."

The blond man next to the _foreigner_ spoke roughly then, the fresh scar on his face moved weirdly, "We won't have what we want until things are the way they're supposed to be"

"We shouldn't be hiding like this!" added the man with the splint.

"Ivan, Vanko, gentlemen please. I'm sure Adrian here is not saying that." the _foreigner_ said taking a sip from his glass, "You aren't, right?"

Adrian shook his head slowly.

"We are close" the _foreigner_ added with his coarse accent, "We just need one more favour from you Mr Pucey"

Adrian's eyes went wide, "A favour? I gave you that bloody map and the information you needed!"

"Yes your information was very valuable, we wouldn't have accomplished our plans at Azkaban without it. We are very grateful"

"I didn't had anything to do with that! I-I didn't know!" Adrian yelled standing up.

Azkaban was the British wizarding prison, there the worst practitioners of the dark arts were locked without a chance of ever getting out. It was initially guarded by the dementors, nasty and repulsive creatures that could suck the very soul out of any living thing, after the war though they were vanished away and the only ones guarding the cells now were the aurors which were wizards working for the Ministry of Magic. The Auror Department was the part of the Ministry in charge of keeping the law among the wizarding community, Adrian had a boring desk job there, nothing that could put him or anybody else in danger. Not until now.

Marcus had a devilish smile on him, "So what was your stupid brain thinking Pucey? that we were going to use what you gave us to build our own little model of Azkaban?"

The room broke in laughter except for the foreigner who was slightly amused.

"I-I.. thought you were just going to free a small thug or something like that" Adrian tried to justify himself but deep down he had always known what could happen because of his actions.

"If he really thinks that then he's an... _aptal_" said Bilgi between laughs. Adrian didn't know what _aptal_ meant but he was sure that it was not something nice.

"He's a worthless pillock, that's what he is" added Marcus.

The _foreigner_ talked softly and his ghostly eyes seemed to shine, "Adrian, very dangerous men were freed last week. People died, yes a couple of inmates and a few loyal fellows from _the_ _Company_ but some aurors too. Good honest aurors Adrian... with families. You did that"

"I-I-I.." Adrian was dead pale and his mouth couldn't form words. He almost fell to the floor the morning he got the news and the guilt had been eating him from inside since then.

"They were useless as aurors, some of them didn't even get to throw a single curse" the black haired man, Vanko, said.

"They were good people..." Adrian said in a low and sad voice.

"And where were you then Pucey?" asked Marcus.

"Surely with his arse on that comfortable desk of his." added Bilgi.

"I..."

"They were part of a system that is not going to last long either way" Ivan said, Adrian turned to him but he couldn't say a thing.

"Adrian, sit" the _foreigner_ said. Adrian obeyed, he had no strength to oppose them.

The _foreigner_ finished his drink with one long sip and then he leaned forward with a wicked smile, he spoke in a gentle but evil tone. "Look my friend, that's in the past, let it go. We are the future and we just need one last little thing from you. Do this for us and you will be left alone to live happily with that boring half-blood girl of yours."

The look that Adrian gave him then was of pure confusion as if he couldn't understand anything coming out of the man's mouth. His mind was still on the Ministry, still on the day he got the news of the attack on Azkaban.

"We know that there are a lot of aurors everywhere." the _foreigner_ continued, "Saint Mungo, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade... but we know that there is one place where they are not expecting anybody. We want you to tell us which night is Harry Potter going to stand guard at the Ministry of Magic."

The young man's eyes widened, "What?.. Why..?... NO!"

"I believe that you are in no position to argue boy" said Vanko, the one with the splint on the arm.

"You don't have a choice" added Bilgi with his squeaky voice.

"There are many aurors at the Ministry at all time, what ever you're planning it won't work! and you really think that you can defeat Harry Potter?"

"Potter is no problem, I knew you were on his side Pucey"

"I'm not on his side Marcus, I just try to live my life. Higgs, Malfoy and many others try to do it too it's the..."

"We don't care about your fellow traitors, you troll head!"

"Lets keep the peace please" said the _foreigner_ and everyone calmed down, "Look Adrian, I like you, I really do. I know that as a Slytherin you moved along with the winning side, but now we are the winning side and you need to be with us. Think of it as an opportunity."

"I don't see how you are winning. Even if you could beat Potter you would be surrounded in no time. The Ministry cannot be attacked, it has hard defences, specially after the war."

"You will cooperate boy"

"Or we could put a couple of spells on your girlfriend. Bet I can drive her barking mad in no time."

"Leave Emily alone!" Adrian yelled.

"Adrian please, ignore those stupid comments. Emily is safe now and I'm sure that we don't need to get into threatening, it is tasteless and not needed at all."

For a moment everybody remained quiet. Adrian was caught on the _foreigner's_ pale eyes, trying to decide how shifty his promises were. So far the man had kept his word but they still had Emily and Adrian wouldn't be at peace until she was released.

"That plan is not going to work" Adrian said calmly and many teeth gritted around the table.

"It is, now listen" the _foreigner_ said, "A special something is right now at your Ministry, you don't need to know what it is but it is useful to us and we don't need you to get it. The amount of aurors there is not something that worries us either, we have enough men and they are moving more aurors to other places leaving the Ministry with fewer numbers. We know this, it is an easy battle, we just want to kill two birds with one stone and strike the same day that Potter is there. You will cooperate."

They were asking him something that would let to another tragedy. Over thirty people were going to be left at the Ministry and that included Potter, it was not that difficult to outnumber that. Adrian didn't know if they were really looking for something at the Ministry or if this was all only to get Potter, a revenge.

Noticing his silence the _foreigner_ continued, "You will also tell us exactly how many are left and how are they spread around the place. You will tell us about protection spells in there and any other thing that we need to know. You would be naive if you thought that you are our only man from the inside, we will know if you lie." with that the man smiled and leaned back to his chair serving himself another drink and filling the glasses of his companions, Adrian's glass was still full.

So It was not only about Potter after all, they wanted Adrian to give them the Ministry. If he gave them the aurors positions and protections he would be signing their death sentences, the _foreigner's_ forces would enter like an avalanche with minor losses while the fewer aurors are caught by surprise. _The Dark Company_ would wipe them down completely, including Potter. Adrian wasn't sure about the rumours that said that Potter couldn't be killed but he really doubted that he could survive so many wands throwing all kind of curses at him. If Adrian did this it really wouldn't matter if the reinforcements caught the _foreigner_ after that, he would be directly responsible for the death of over thirty people and this time he will know it before hand.

"NO! I won't!" Adrian thundered as he stood up again, "You had taken too much from me already! I won't let you..."

At that moment some words echoed on the distance and Adrian froze. "CRUCIO!"

The voice had come from the door at the end of the room and it immediately grabbed his attention. The yells that came then were the most horrible that Adrian had ever heard, they were the yells of a girl.

"You bastards!" Adrian said taking his wand out but he was soon beaten by Marcus who had acted faster. Adrian flew back and hit the floor at the aisle on his back. The _foreigner_ and the two men at his side remained still as if nothing had happened.

"You said... you promised..." Adrian mumbled and moved his head backwards trying to contain the tears of rage.

"It wasn't me, I swear that what you just heard was out of my control." said the _foreigner_.

Then the door opened and an old man with a twisted face came out. He had a lot of grey migled with his black hair and the unequivocal signs on his face of having passed through a lot of hard days. Adrian had seen him before in many pictures but always younger, except for last week when a picture came looking exactly as he did now.

"Dolohov" muttered Adrian.

Antonin Dolohov approached slowly to the table leaving the door open and Vanko gave him his seat. The fugitive grabbed the bottle and drank directly from it.

"I don't know how you keep up with this scum," he addressed the _foreigner_ making his long half-grizzly hair aside, "The Imperious curse is faster, I'm sure you have a few legilimens with you too."

"Imperius is faster but it also raises more suspicions. Legilimency does not guarantee his cooperation, if we keep him here then his absence would also be noticed. Besides I trust that Adrian will be helpful, father" said the _foreigner_ with a mischievous grin.

Adrian Pucey was shocked, he couldn't move a finger.

Dolohov stood up, he slowly walked towards Adrian making the young man shiver with every step. When he was next to him the aged man bent until his face was only inches away from Adrian's. Cold drops of sweat were sliding down his young squared face.

"You will do as we say." said Dolohov with a low growl, "If you don't, I will personally use the Imperius on you and I won't care if I crash your lame brain in the process, when we get what we want I will kill you but not before using a few curses over that girl over there. I promise you will watch every bit of it" the former Death Eater returned to his place and gave another sip from the bottle, "Slytherin is better than this prick."

The terror that Adrian felt then was something that he hadn't experienced before. The young man nodded as Marcus raised him from the floor, then he headed to the table. Adrian told them everything they wanted to know and even more.

"Are you sure we need to do this with Potter there?" asked Bilgi looking at the _foreigner_ and Dolohov with caution. "I heard he can't be beaten"

"Potter was a frightened boy then and he is one now." said Dolohov, "I don't know what kind of trick he used against the Dark Lord but that was a lucky hit that only worked because some rubbish between their wands. I faced him once, he is nothing alone. I will beat him and after that I will bring the Dark Lord back."

The words echoed on the room and even Marcus and Bilgi looked nervous, the _foreigner_ was ginning. Adrian Pucey was beyond petrified, he didn't know what to believe still he was a person without a choice now, he didn't had the guts to fight them. He was a traitor after all, a traitor to thirty people. Not better than a murderer.

When he finished with his task he was lead to the distant door to see her. He was crushed, he didn't raised his sight from the floor, not even once.


	2. A Secret At The Ministry

The sun was shinning bright all over St Ottery Catchpole and its nearby hills, covering every inch of the countryside with a lively warmth that only the summer could bring. The landscape was stunning, orchards and fields as green as the trees were spread all around with only a few narrow roads separating them. It was so peaceful that the low murmur of a distant stream could be heard from a mile away.

Although that peace was soon disturbed by the sound of hurried footsteps. A young couple was walking through the fields but there was no sign of a car and the distance to town made it unlikely that they had come walking all the way from there.

The man was tall and had a short hair that was as red as it could get, he had a long nose surrounded by freckles which made the blue of his eyes stand out. His name was Ron Weasley and the bushy haired woman at his side was his wife.

"They shouldn't be questioning you, it doesn't feel right" she said as they walked downhill, she was holding some kind of bowl on her hands which was covered by a white cloth.

"It's weird but Redfern said that they have to do it with everybody" replied Ron balancing a few boxes wrapped in colourful patterns.

"I know that they have to, all I'm saying is that it feels wrong"

They walked a few more steps without saying anything. Ron's wife appeared to be very serious, thinking deeply. "I just can't understand what all of this is about. I mean, why now? who are they?"

Ron looked troubled but he tried to shrug under the pile of gifts, "Probably a few rogue Death Eaters with some git in the Department helping them. Is only matter of time before we lock them down again." he said snorting.

The Death Eaters were a group of dark wizards who had fought a great war years ago, they thought that the only wizards and witches that should be allowed to study Magic were those who came from very long lines of magical families. They believed that children born from non-magical people, or Muggles as the Wizarding World called them, were useless and a disgrace to all of the magical community. Ron and the entire Weasley family couldn't disagree more, in fact Ron's wife was a muggleborn and one of the most talented and renowned witches in the whole Britain.

Fortunately these were peace times. There had been no war for years and incidents with rogue Death Eaters had been less and less frequent, until a few weeks ago.

Ron's wife looked around like trying to see if they were alone, and of course they were, they were right in the middle of the countryside. Once she was sure of that she got close to her husband and spoke on a very low voice.

"What if they know of that thing I told you about?" she paused and lower her voice even more, "The one at the Ministry"

"Blimey Hermione, you worry too much! They don't know about that, you said no one knew."

"Yes, but... what if they do?"

"We can handle it. There must be like ten left of them... maybe less, they just knew where they were going and took everybody by surprise. They won't last long, every auror wants a piece of them and we're prepared now."

Ron had been trying to calm his wife since the attack on Azkaban, he didn't want her to think that he was going to be in that sort of danger again. However he got the odd feeling that there was something more than a prison break in the whole thing.

Harry and Redfern were worried, they thought the whole thing was only the beginning of a larger plan. Harry said that they had risked themselves too much, he didn't believe that they had done all of that just to free some old friends specially since they could had done that years ago. Ron would have wanted to disagree but he couldn't, he knew that they were right.

That didn't meant that he was going to tell that to Hermione of course.

"You know what?" said Ron smiling, "Lets just enjoy the party today, maybe they felt stupid at the Department questioning Harry, he might be here already."

Hermione didn't look convinced but she nodded either way.

At that moment they reached the bottom of the hill and a large plain field extended in front of them, it was also covered in green but the trees seemed to have left that space alone. A few yards later Ron turned to his wife, "Well here we go, wonder if George brought some fireworks..."

Ron was finishing his phrase when the whole air bent with their next step, it was as if a huge transparent sheet had been waved from one side to the other with a swift move. After that everything seemed to return to the way it was before with the exception that they were now standing before a huge house.

The house was built one story after the other in a way that made it look as if it could fall in any moment, of course that wasn't going to happen since Magic kept it standing with an impressive solidness. It had been the home of Ron when he was younger but now only his parents lived there, everybody called it _the Burrow_.

They walked through the front yard until they reached the main door which Ron knocked with the tip of his shoes. Ron thought that he heard some noises coming from the garage which probably meant that his father was there but he couldn't go to say hello with his hands as full of presents as they were.

The door soon opened and a woman with a short black hair appeared, she was wearing an apron and trying to clean her hands with a kitchen cloth. As soon as she saw them she gave them a big smile.

"Oh Ron, Hermione... step in, everybody is in the garden." she said opening the door wide.

"Thanks Audrey, is Harry here also?" asked Hermione as they walked into the house.

"Oh no, sorry, we're only waiting for him now. Ginny is not happy."

"Shocking!" said Ron with his best irony voice earning a glare from his wife. Ginny was an easy-going person but when her temper got the best out of her one should try to find shelter right away. Ron knew that first-hand and he was cautious around his little sister, specially now that she was pregnant.

Sometimes Ron wondered how Harry was able to always be on the right side of his sister's temper. Harry Potter was Ron's best mate since the first day at Hogwarts, they had gone through a lot of things together and they both worked at the Auror Office now. He was like a brother to Ron and it became kind of official the day he married Ginny.

As they passed through the living room Ron couldn't avoid a quick look.

The Burrow was a cozy place and even when its furniture was quite old it was amazingly comfortable too. Ron's father had a great job now but they hadn't moved away or remodelled the house, they loved it just the way it was, all the extra money always went to travel and gifts for the grand-kids. Ron could swear that everything looked exactly the same as when he lived there.

Well, the pictures were different since most of the portraits of Ron and his siblings were now hid behind a whole row of grand-kids' photos.

The family clock which pointed to the location of each family member was also different, it had more hands and also _The Burrow_ was not the same place as _Home_ for most its members anymore. At that moment there were so many hands on _The Burrow_ that Ron couldn't distinguish the names. There were two hands halfway between _Home_ and _The Burrow_ for Ron's parents and also a lonely one placed at _Work_ which was labelled _Harry_.

"It has already taken too long, wonder what's going on", thought Ron.

There was also a hand placed at _Home_ with the label _Charlie_ on it. The second eldest Weasley brother was working in Romania and he couldn't be around for every birthday, still he came by every couple of months with his hands full of presents.

When they entered the kitchen they found an old woman chopping turnips on the table, her name was Andromeda Tonks and since she was a friend of the family it was not unusual to see her around on birthdays. Andromeda's grandson Teddy was as good as family too since he was Harry's godson.

There was also a younger and gorgeous woman sitting across Andromeda, she was Ron's sister-in-law and she was pregnant too. Fleur Delacour was Bill's wife and she had given birth to a couple of Weasley grandkids already, she was waiting for the third. Ron couldn't remember when was the new Weasley coming but for him it looked as if it could be any moment now.

Ron had many brothers and a sister so it was only natural to have a house full of kids and pregnant women, Ron's mother couldn't be happier.

Hermione and Ron had been thinking about it too but they were going to wait a few months. Hermione was moving from the _Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ to her new job at the _Department of Magical Law Enforcement_, she was now working very closely with Percy and the Minister of Magic. Ron had asked if she would be able to handle the job and a pregnancy but Hermione seemed quite confident of it, even excited.

"Hey Mum"

"Ron? weren't you two supposed to come by Floo?" asked Ron's mother barely looking away from the stove, the woman seemed to have her hands completely busy.

"Err.. yeah, we are kind of short on powder... need to get more." answered Ron from behind the boxes, Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Hi dear... you brought the triffle?" asked Ron's mother as soon as she saw Hermione.

"Yes Molly, hope it is enough." Hermione answered with a wide smile. She let the bowl on the table and after greeting Andromeda and Fleur she headed towards the stove too, Audrey was mixing some stuff already on the other side of the kitchen. "It looks like I'm needed here"

Ron's mother smiled, "Audrey was helping me sweetheart but thank you, we can use the extra wand, a lot of mouths to feed today." she said beaming, then with a flick of her wand a big tar came flying to her from the other side of the room.

"I could 'elp, really, I'm fine" said Fleur.

"We already talked about that dear, you're just a month away, you shouldn't be doing too much effort. Besides we can handle this kitchen by ourselves." said Ron's mother causing Fleur to let out a low snort. Hermione turned to smile at the pregnant woman who was usually very active in the kitchen.

Hermione who was now handling a big pan found Ron's eyes and she gave him a weird smile. Ron knew that she was still worried, still thinking about that thing at the Ministry.

"The gift table is in the garden, everybody else is there." said the old woman on the table looking at Ron balancing the boxes.

"Oh yeah, thanks Mrs Tonks. See you later" and Ron hurried to the back of the house after giving Hermione a little peck on the cheek, the bushy haired woman smiled but the distraction almost cost Ron to fall over with the gifts.

"'ere let me take zis one" said Fleur standing up from the table and grabbing the little one on the top.

"Thanks, at least now I can see where I'm going."

Outside a huge tent was being raised, Percy and George were lifting one side with their wands while Angelina and Bill finished the other end. Meanwhile Ginny was setting the table with a few levitation charms. Both Ginny and Angelina were around four moths pregnant.

"Is that the gift table?" asked Ron out loud when he saw a small place filled with boxes wrapped in all kind of colors, everybody turned their heads to them.

"You figured that all by yourself? Always wondered why you were not a Ravenclaw dear brother." yelled George from the other end of the garden.

"Very funny, now come here and help me with this" but Bill was already on his way, he grabbed the small present on his wife hands and then another one from Ron.

"Thanks" said Ron and he followed Bill to the gift table where he placed the big blue one that he had still on his hands.

"Dad's at the garage with the kids, he's showing them a few Muggle toys"

"Yeah, think I heard them there"

Percy's birthday had been the day before but it was always easier to gather up on Saturdays. This was a special party though since they were also celebrating Ginny and one of Bill's daughters, the whole Azkaban thing had cancelled those reunions the previous weeks. With all the fuss Ron and Hermione were only able to give Ginny a quick visit then.

Ron was giving his good wishes to Percy when Bill spoke to him, "Wasn't Harry with you?" asked the eldest Weasley brother.

"Err... No, my audience was yesterday. Guess they wanted to leave Harry for the very end because they knew it was an useless questioning, they're not mad enough to think that Harry had something to do with that" said Ron heading to greet his sister who was frowning.

"They didn't had to do it, it's stupid" said the redhead.

"They had, it's the procedure" added Percy, Ginny snorted.

Everyone sat down next to the snack bowl and tried to continue the conversation.

"Had they found something?" asked Angelina and all eyes turned to Ron.

"They haven't told us, if they had something the audiences would had stopped don't you think?" said Ron, "Everything is tense at the office, even Redfern is being questioned."

"The Head Auror?"

Bill nodded at Angelina's shocked expression, "It is a difficult situation, an escape from Azkaban is not a small matter specially when former Death Eaters were released. People might start arguing about defenses, they might even mention dementors"

"Rubbish!" George joined them, "People escaped with the dementors too"

"I think that no one really wants them back, it's only a twisted political move on Kingsley" said Percy looking serious.

"That's stupid!"

"Of course it is" said George putting an arm around Angelina and turning to look at Percy, "if it weren't it wouldn't be politics"

"Oy!" said Percy and a few smirks were heard, including Bill. The smile of the oldest Weasley brother was kind of weird with the scar over his face but everyone was used to it now.

"And Hermione?" asked Ginny noticing her friend's absence.

"She's at ze kitchen."

"Oh, do they need help?" asked Angelina, Ginny was also standing up. The redhead was never good at cookery but Ron had to admit that she had improved a bit in the last years.

"Zey don't want any 'elp. I zink that ze place is full too but I'll go get more snacks"

George stood up quickly taking the empty bowl first, "Oh allow me my dearest sister-in-law. I'll take a look on how the food is going too."

"You know that your mother doesn't like people messing around before the food is served" Angelina warned him.

"Maybe she has changed her mind my loved one" replied George with a wink of his eye.

"I really doubt that" said Ron who had personally faced the consequences of sneaking there in other occasions.

George didn't seemed to care and soon everybody heard Ron's mother yells coming from the house. A lot of laughs came but eventually George returned with a plate full of snacks and a few pieces of bread. It was clear that their mother hadn't seen him taking those.

"How long did your audience took?" asked Ginny to Ron suddenly, "Isn't he supposed to be back already?"

"I don't think that it will be long now. I'm sure he's already on his way here"

At that very moment a huge white and blue light took them all by surprise but before anyone could react the light decreased until it was a recognizable silhouette. A shinning stag.

Next the figure spoke with the clear and unmistakable voice of Harry Potter, "This is taking too long, my audience hasn't started yet. We had other pending issues to attend. I will get there as soon as I can. Please, start without me."

Then the light faded and the stag disappeared. George Weasley turned smirking towards Ron, "You are really a divination wonder"

"Oh knock it off!"

Ginny snorted loudly, "That Redfern is going to hear about me"

"I'm sure he will Gin but this is above him" said Bill with a weak smile as their father came into the garden followed by a few kids, he had one little girl on his arms with a light redhead hair.

"Hey, Hey, easy" he said to the children when they raced past him.

"Wow! was that Harry's patronus?" said a blue haired boy running to where the light had faded.

"I don't know Teddy," Ron's father said turning to the table, "Was it?"

Almost everybody nodded, "He said he's busy, he'll be late."

"Ow! I missed it!" complained the five year old boy.

Victoire, Bill's daughter and the oldest Weasley grand-kid, went to her mother trying to ask about the patronus. The other two girls were too young to understand. Molly was Percy and Audrey's daughter, she could barely walk, as soon as Percy saw her he stood up and raised her from the floor. Dominique was the one on his grandfather's arms, she was Victoire's younger sister.

"He said to start without him"

"Maybe we should wait a little longer" said Angelina looking at Ginny who was left not very happy with her husband's message.

"I'm better at waiting when I don't have my stomach this empty" said Ron who was hungry, still he gained a glare from his sister, "Ok, Ok... I can wait..."

George stood up and took the kids to play something on the distance, Ron knew that his brother always had his pocket filled with all kinds of fun things but they were not always safe. Ron used to help him on weekends with the joke shop but the job at the office had kept him very busy lately.

The conversation continued and after a long time Hermione and Audrey came with the first plates. They told them about Harry's message and Hermione turned to look at Ron with a worried expression.

They tried to wait for Harry as much as they could but eventually decided to start without him, even Ginny because Ron's mother insisted in having healthy grand-kids.

It was not until a couple of hours later that Harry arrived, Ron was the only one still eating.

Little Teddy rushed towards his godfather, his hair was brown now. Harry raised him in his arms and continued walking towards the table.

"... but I missed it! just saw it disappear!"

"Don't worry Teddy, I'll make the patronus again later... now I'm starving!"

Ron noticed that his friend was chewing a bread that he surely grabbed from the kitchen.

Ginny had already reached them and gave him a small kiss, she seemed more relaxed now, "then you should had come earlier" she said.

"I'm glad of being here now, hope that does count"

"We'll see" replied Ginny.

After greeting everybody Ron saw him giving him a weird look, it was his way of telling him that things were not going well at the office. He would surely hear more about it later.

The reunion continued more lively now that Harry was there. They talked about all kinds of things including the success of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes third branch and a lot of Quidditch, then Ginny made the big announcement. When she first found out about her pregnancy she had officially resigned from her place as a chaser for the Holyhead Harpies but it was unclear what would happen with her, it turned out that the Daily Prophet had just offered her a job as a Quidditch correspondent and she was going to take it which allowed her to have both Quidditch and family in her life. Ron was shocked and the first thing that he asked was if she was going to be able to get Chudley Cannons tickets now.

"I thought that you had already realized that the Cannons are never going to win the league" said Harry.

"They will! they just need me cheering them... in every single game... in a skybox" he turned to look at Ginny with pleading eyes.

Everybody laughed, including Ginny, "I'll see what I can do, if it is not possible I can always get you more Harpies tickets" she said and Ron snorted.

The presents came next and joy covered the Burrow, specially from the kids. Dominique had a very wide smile as she opened hers and little Molly did too because her father was letting her open his, Molly didn't know what a magical razor or a schedule book were but she enjoyed undoing the wrapping either way. Percy was having as much fun helping his daughter as if it was him the one unwrapping the boxes.

"Hey is that a colour changing tie? nice touch Ron." said Bill.

"It was Hermione's idea, I had initially thought about a talking suit"

"A talking suit? that doesn't sound very useful" said Angelina.

"What did it say?" asked Audrey.

"All kinds of greetings, it even recognized the time of the day!"

Hermione seemed to be holding up a laugh, "It also called you 'Mrs Redhead'"

Laughter erupted, "Hey! it was a cracking suit not a mind reader!" argued Ron laughing too.

"I think I might get one for myself" said Ron's father quite intrigued.

When that was over Ron's mother said that only the dessert was left but before she stood up George beat her to it. "Don't tire yourself my dearly mother, I'll get that triffle myself." and he bolted to the kitchen leaving some weird looks behind.

George himself served the dessert which was beyond suspicious. "You didn't put anything in this did you?" Hermione asked.

"George! you better had not!" said Ron's mother.

"You hurt me... I would never do something like that to you Hermione!" replied George but even Angelina was looking weird at him now.

On previous parties he always had found a way to play a trick on someone, specially on Ron. One time he even made his eyebrows grow so big that they completely covered his view for a whole hour.

Ron was confused, one part of him wanted to eat the triffle already which he knew was delicious but another side doubted.

Suddenly Hermione grabbed her plate and swapped with Ron's. "So is it ok if I take Ron's? it's a smaller portion and I ate a lot already" she said still looking at George, like daring him to continue with he was planning with the eyes.

Everyone knew that George didn't had a problem pulling a joke on Ron but he would have to be very brave to try something on Hermione.

"As you please my dear sister-in-law"

Very slowly Hermione took a bite from her plate while everyone looked at her, even Percy looked nervous. A whole minute passed but nothing seemed to happen so everybody sighed and started eating, if there was nothing in Ron's plate then everything was all right or at least that was what Ron thought.

As soon as Ron grabbed a bite from the triffle that was supposed to be Hermione's slice he started feeling weird. With every chew he felt that his mouth was getting more and more cramped even when he wasn't taking big spoonfuls. Then he realized what was happening, his tongue was growing huge and he couldn't stop it until it inevitably hit the table in front of them.

"WOOWY WELL!" was all that could be understand from him.

"Wow! what's that?!" asked Teddy pointing as more laughter exploded on the table.

"George!" yelled Ron's mother.

Ron was panicked even when the tongue had stopped growing, Hermione on the other side was dumbfounded. "But... how did you?"

George had the biggest smile ever and even Percy was trying to contain a laugh.

Bill was shocked too, "You... but what if she hadn't... oohh Merlin that was brave!"

In a flash Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at George but the redhead raised his arms in defeat, "It was Percy's idea!" he said.

"What? No... No. I just helped him with the last part, it was him I swear." said Percy quickly.

In a swift move Hermione flick her wand to both of them as they closed their eyes. It appeared as if Ron's wife hadn't done anything and even George and Percy looked confused.

"What? I don't feel different" said George but he did it with a high pitched voice, almost as if it was some cartoon talking. "HEY!" he said once he found out.

Everyone was laughing, even Dominique who was now on Ginny's lap and Percy but he did it with a high pitched tone too. Ron finally laughed too and was glad to see a smile on his wife, they needed to forget about the worries at least for a few hours.

"I think it sounds better!" Angelina said while Audrey was smirking.

"I don't find ze difference" Fleur added with a wide smile.

Looking at George and Percy laughing of their own voices made Ron remember his deceased brother. Fred had been George's twin and they always did those kind of things together, at least his spirit remained with them after the war.

Little Molly was confused about everything but when she saw everyone laughing she joined too.

Ron felt a tug from his sleeve then and when he turned he saw little Teddy Lupin standing next to him.

"Wafff?" he asked.

"Look" the boy said.

Teddy made his tongue grow big all the way to his chest and moved it from one side to the other playfully. People were taken aback but soon laughter erupted again, Angelina actually said that she needed to stop laughing because she couldn't handle it any more.

"'AN I WO WACK WOW?" asked Ron to George trying very hard to speak clearly.

"I had no idea what just asked Ickle Ronnie, still let me think about it" said George's shrill voice.

"You will fix my husband right now our I'll give you something worse than a big tongue!" Hermione said to George with a menacing smile.

"What? I think it looks better now..." he started but when he saw Hermione moving his hand he pulled a little vial out, "Here, here, I yield"

After taking the liquid in the little vial Ron's tongue returned to its normal size but even then Hermione didn't lift the spell on George and Percy's voices.

"Hey! We gave you the antidote! I can't go to work like this"

"You work on a joke shop!" complained Percy, "I am the one with the problem" Hermione giggled and Ron noticed that even his mother was smirking.

The party continued and people got used to Percy and George's voice. Teddy made all kind of changes to his tongue also until he got bored and changed it back to normal, he went to Harry and asked him to see the patronus again at his godfather agreed joyfully. When the night came George stood up and prepared the fireworks, Teddy joined him of course.

Then the serious conversation came.

Harry let out that they were now looking into Redfern and people outside of the Auror Office so it was likely that questions could reach Hermione, Percy or even Ron's father.

"Are they sure that they are Death Eaters?" asked Ron's father at some point.

"Not as far as I know. The surviving aurors are too injured to answer questions, it really took them by surprise." Harry said grimly, "Some of them mumble that the attackers didn't spoke English, others that they had Death Eaters' masks. No one knows for sure."

"But this is not... like... before?"

"We don't think so Molly. It is believed that they were very few attackers"

"Then how did they got past all the defenses and guardians" asked Audrey.

"Inside knowledge, is the only way to do it that fast" said Bill while Harry nodded.

"So what does that mean? they knew about the defenses?"

"Of course, we have a rat at the office" added Ron and a uncomfortable silence fell on the table.

Harry gave Ron a weird look, he had an idea of what his friend was thinking. They had found themselves with their own Wormtail at the Auror Office.

Bill tried to ask about that rat but obviously Harry didn't have a clue of who that was, audiences wouldn't keep going if they already had him.

"Who did they freed?" Percy asked on his high pitched voice and a few smirks lighten up the mood, "Oh come on Hermione!"

A few seconds before Hermione had been very serious but that made her struggle to contain a laugh. She lifted the spell and Percy's voice returned to normal.

"Thanks"

"Well," Harry answered, "I believe Dolohov and Rowle were the most dangerous ones, by the way everything happened Redfern thinks that they came directly for one of them"

"Or both" added Ron while Harry nodded.

"Dolohov?" Fleur asked looking pale, she and Ron's mother had turned to look at Teddy at the distance. Dolohov had killed Teddy's father at the final battle and the kid was left without knowing his parents. Harry looked unsettled.

"Poor child" the old woman muttered.

No one said anything more about the topic since not even Harry had much more information to share but the table remained serious. Eventually Ron's father said that the aurors will eventually catch them at which Harry gave a weak nod. Neither Ginny or Hermione looked comfortable with that.

Ron held his wife's hand like trying to say that everything was going to be all right and she smiled back. Ron saw his sister cuddling on Harry as his friend put an arm over her shoulder, they were whispering something to one another.

After a while George returned and the fireworks started. Everyone soon was on a better mood or at least it appeared so. The fireworks were fantastic and not only the kids were in awe, George always found a way to best himself and a colourful figure of a flying Quidditch player in the sky was a way to do it.

"What about me?" George asked when he noticed Percy talking with his normal voice.

"You could use the voice a little longer" Angelina said smirking.

"Awww! Angelina!"

The cleaning came next and everybody began to pick up the remains of the party. Ginny and Angelina went inside to help with the kitchen and when Hermione found herself alone with Ron and Harry she took her chance.

She dragged them both to one side of the tent trying to see if anybody was watching, it appeared as if it was only Bill who noticed but he continued talking with his father and George as they picked up the what was left of the fireworks.

"Do you know?" she asked Harry on a low voice.

"Know what?" he asked surprised.

Hermione then turned to look at her husband, "Have you told him?"

Ron was equally surprised but after a moment he understood what she meant, he shook his head.

His wife let out a heavy sigh then turned to Harry, "Look, this is very sensible information. It shouldn't be passed around and I didn't want to worry Ginny or the others."

"Hermione, you're scaring me. What is it?" Harry said looking confused at Ron.

"There's... something at the Ministry right now, not even Kingsley knows about it but I'm afraid that whoever attacked Azkaban might. I know because I had been working with some Unspeakables, they looked for me after my speech on the Time Turners..." she said very quickly.

"Unspeakables and Time Turners?... wait, they talked to you?"

Hermione sighed, she looked pretty nervous, "Nobody knows about it, they only asked a few questions, not even in person, I know very little of the device. All I know is that it is more powerful than a Time Turner, not sure how it works but it was made to understand Time itself and can make time travel work for more than a few hours. In theory it was not planned for that but I had made a few calculations... I think that with a misuse or mistake that device could make someone travel years to the future, or to the past I'm really not sure."

"Years?"

"Don't look at me I asked the same questions" Ron answered the looks that his best mate was throwing him.

"You know what this means? This can go back to the war! it could alter time! the very outcome of the war!"

Harry looked really concerned, "I understand what this could cause but still not entirely sure how this could reach the wrong ears."

Silence fell on the three of them and Harry looked very troubled as he moved his sight between his oldest friends, "If I understand this... you are implying that an Unspeakable could be... giving them information?" Harry raised an eyebrow to her.

"Well you got one on the Auror Office, they could get an Unspeakeable too. It might even be the same person you are looking for"

"It's not the same Hermione," Harry tried to argue, "people don't even know the identities of the Unspeakables, this would need even more inside people than Voldemort had. If this were true... then... I can't even measure the impact on the Ministry."

"It is possible"

"Do you have any proof?"

Ron threw Hermione a sad look, he knew that everything were only guesses.

"No, but... We didn't had this... this device at the Department of Mysteries at the previous attacks. Previous attacks weren't even as successful for them as this was. I just have a bad feeling and it is not about if it is probable or not, it is about the impact of what could happen if they do know."

It was obvious that she lost him at _No_.

Harry exchanged some weird looks with Ron, "I really understand your concerns, I really..." he sighed, "I don't know Hermione..."

Ron was looking at his concerned wife and all he wanted was to be able to put all her worries and problems away, "Look mate," he said to Harry, "Lets keep an eye open, just in case."

His black haired friend didn't look convinced but he nodded, "I guess it won't hurt, specially with the new arrangements"

"What new arrangements?"

"Redfern wants us to stand guard at the Ministry every night for the next week, apparently someone convinced him that St Mungo's and Diagon Alley already had too many wands. He says that he needed his best men on the place with less aurors"

Whatever Hermione planned to get with speaking to Harry it was surely not this, "Less aurors?"

Harry nodded, "Don't worry, they would be mad if they thought on attacking the Ministry, we will have less wands but the defenses on that place are impenetrable. I would had personally preferred to be on St Mungo's, it would be very bad if they hit there." he obviously didn't look happy with that decision.

"But the rat?"

"If he exists he doesn't know about those defenses. Everything was changed after the attack and things are stronger than ever, even knowing them it would require a lot of strength to go fast through those defenses. They obviously don't have those numbers for what I've heard."

Hermione didn't looked convinced and for some reason Ron was getting a very bad feeling too, besides he was not very excited about having the night shift.

Nothing more was said about that. Harry was Redfern's right hand and he had a lot of things on his mind, maybe he was right and things were under control. However when Ron saw Hermione more concerned than ever he couldn't keep from worrying too.

He kissed her softly, "It's all right," he said, "I know how to take care of myself and with me around Harry will be safe"

Hermione gave him a weak smile.

Everything was ok, Ron tried convinced himself of that. Life was perfect. They had beaten Voldemort and there was no way that they could face something worse at the Ministry. Soon they would be laughing about it and thinking about having a new Weasley kid themselves. Harry and Ron were trained aurors, experienced, two of the best in the entire country. Everything was ok.


	3. The Black Memorial

As usual Ron had a dreamless sleep, however this time it was not as long as he would have wanted.

The redhead man woke up groaning at the endless twinkling and whizzing sounds below his head. Everything else was dark.

"Ron, Ron" came the sleepy low voice of his wife.

"Err -at?" Ron mumbled without opening his eyes or taking his cheek away from the pillow.

"It's time" she said, "Come on get up"

Slowly Ron raised his head from the bed and opened his eyes only a bit. The blinking light under his pillow hit him hard, "Stupid alarm" he grumbled grabbing the source of light and shutting it off. It was his wand.

His first impulse was to fall back into bed but his wife stopped him, her hair was bushier after sleeping but Ron always told her how beautiful she looked just like that.

"Come Ron, I told you to go to bed earlier, didn't I?" she said, "Are you hungry? I'll make something quick."

The mention of food seemed to bring Ron back, he turned around and gave her a weak smile, "I hate night shifts"

"This is your first one, now get up you don't want to get late." she stood up, before leaving bed she moved towards Ron and gave him a sweet kiss on the tip of the lips. The young man smiled and caressed her cheek.

Hermione put a warm coat over her night gown and walked out of the room trying to untangle her bushy hair a little, meanwhile Ron sat heavily on his side of the bed, he was rubbing his face furiously with both hands trying to stay awake.

It was a big bedroom with a lot of space to walk around. The bed faced directly at the door and had small nightstands at each side of it. There was also a dressing table and a huge wardrobe but the first thing that always caught Ron's attention was the slim bookcase next to the door. He couldn't understand why Hermione needed it, she had tons of old books in her office and even when she said that it was only 'light reading' for the nights Ron knew perfectly well that she also had a lot of heavy things to read in that nightstand of hers.

The decoration was slightly orange but nowhere near as his old room at the Burrow, Hermione didn't allow any Quidditch posters in the bedroom either but he had found place for them at other parts of the house.

Ron walked towards the bathroom which was on Hermione's side of the room and took some time, when he met his wife at the table he was already dressed and ready for work. She was still looking nervous.

"So you are going to keep an eye open for anything odd?" she asked when she put a plate with toasts in front of him.

Ron nodded, "We promised, didn't we? Everything will be fine Hermione, the only stories I had heard about the night shifts are dead boring"

"Well boring is good"

At that moment the fireplace burst in green flames, Ron and Hermione barely turned their heads to look at it.

"Hey, thought to give you a wake up call" Harry's voice echoed in the house as his face appeared between the green flames, right inside the fireplace.

"As you can see I'm up and ready to go"

"Hermione's doing, isn't it?" a smile was visible on Harry's image.

"Oy!"

Ron's wife was grinning, "More like that waking up spell than me, Good night Harry"

"Good night Hermione, hope you get a good rest, you still have a few hours left." Harry's head said and then turned to look at Ron, "See you in five?"

Ron nodded and the green flames disappeared at once, the fireplace was back to normal. The redhead man gulped what was left of his toast and stood up.

"Take care ok?"

"I don't have anything to worry about, I would be more scared if I had to deal with those shifty bureaucrats you see every day."

"Your brother is one of them you know"

"Well more reason to be careful," said Ron smiling, he leaned close to her and kissed her tenderly, "Love you"

Hermione's answer was a warm smile.

At the chimney Ron grabbed a handful of floo powder, "It's great that Mum always has some extra around"

Hermione rolled her eyes with a smile, "Next time don't forget it"

With that Ron threw the powder to the fireplace and soon the green flames were back and covering him entirely, "The Ministry of Magic" he said out loud and then he was gone.

Ron hadn't seen the Ministry's Atrium so empty in years. When he came out of one of the left-hand fireplaces he could almost see the whole black wooden floor in there, it looked different without tons of people rushing from one place to the other. The peacock blue ceiling filled with its golden symbols matched in some twisted way with the floor too. Ron got the feeling that only sinister things could happen in there, specially since it didn't look much different now than how he saw it at the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts.

The monument at the middle of the hall was different this time though.

It was an enormous landmark, two big walls of polished black obsidian met at an open angle facing the entrance of the hall, only a small gap separated them from one another. They were filled with golden engravings all across their black surface but even when they were not entirely readable from the distance Ron knew perfectly well what they said. Those were the names of all the people who had died in that war, at least all of those that they knew about.

The structure had been placed shortly after the war ended to remember everyone what they had lost. It was named _Memory of Our Fallen Ones_ but everyone just called it _The Black Memorial_.

It gave it a sense of fatality that really fit with its purpose.

In front of the Memorial a person was standing, he was far away and giving his back to Ron but it couldn't be anybody else.

Harry was a few feet away from the black curtains, admiring them with a blank expression. Ron could understand him, he must had passed by a thousand times now but there was not a single time in which he didn't stop to stare at it.

Not even when Ron walked to his side Harry took his look apart from the monument, his green eyes kept moving to a lot of different places on it. Ron knew those places and the persons who had owned those names but even so his blue eyes were always attracted to one single spot at the lower left side of the right wall.

Ron sighed, thinking on his brother one more time.

"You know," Ron's friend suddenly said taking him away from his thoughts, "sometimes I think that they are here and not at Godric's Hollow"

Ron was surprised as he saw Harry staring at the base of the Memorial, there a pedestal in the middle of the two walls was holding a golden plaque. Above it, at the small portion where the two walls met, two names seemed to catch more attention than any other.

The Potters had been dead of over twenty years now, Harry remembered them only in dreams. They had died defending him when Voldemort tried to kill him as a baby, it was a vile action which ultimately resulted in the evil wizard's downfall. It was that what marked all of Harry's life, he was and will always be _the Chosen One_, _the Boy-Who-Lived_.

"I'm not following you mate" Ron said quite puzzled.

"I mean I know that they are on Godric's Hollow, there I feel something that I don't feel at any other place. I really connect to them. It is as if nothing of this ever really happened." the black haired man started, then he moved his round shaped glasses a little and continued.

"But," he said with a grim gesture, "this is what they were always for me and for everybody else. It's very hard sometimes to think about them without remembering _him_"

"You have other memories mate, pictures, things in the vault, stuff" Ron answered sadly.

"I know, but still that's what they are, things. They should be here, they would have loved to know their grandchild"

Ron was not very good at this but he had lost someone too, he knew what to say, "They are mate, somewhere" he said putting an arm over his old friend and smiling, "Guess you don't have to think too hard to pick a name now"

Harry smiled, then after a long pause he sobered again. It was as if a shadow had returned to his thoughts.

"There are problems Ron, some of our guys think that they had tracked messages. They believe that an impeding attack on St Mungo's is a reality"

Ron seemed shocked, "St Mungo's?"

Harry nodded, "I didn't want to brought it out at the party for obvious reasons" he said, "Some believe it's only a stupid threat without real intentions, others that it is real but that it won't be successful. Either way we have to be careful"

"You're joking right? why are we here then?"

"I had an argument with Redfern about it. I told him I wanted to be in St Mungo's too but he seems confident that everything will be all right. He wants us here to coordinate and he really said that he wants his best wands where he has less numbers"

For moment Ron didn't knew what to say but with every second that passed he was feeling more certain that something was not right, "What if it's a smoke screen, to hit somewhere else"

"I know where you're going"

"Hermione's always right, I have a bad feeling"

"I do too Ron but I am Redfern's most trusted man, I cannot ask him for more men right now when an attack is feared at St Mungo's" Harry answered, he seemed to have an inner conflict, "What if I ask for a few men back and then they attack there? How would that turn out?"

Ron didn't know what to say, his friend was right.

The two friends continued walking towards the building, there they greet a few aurors that were patrolling, everything seemed to be in order. After walking through most of the Atrium a tall an muscular man approached them, he was in his forties and had a though blond beard proper of a man of action.

"Nice to have you two around" he said.

"It will just be a few days but we are glad to be here too" Harry answered, "Any news?"

The man shook his head, "Everything calm, as always"

"Good to know Turner"

Harry and Ron were already heading to the left wing of the building to check on the defenses when the man called them back, "Eh Potter?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering" he started, "have they found him yet?"

"Who? The rat?" Ron asked while Turner nodded.

Harry looked grim, "I'm afraid we don't know anything about that yet, it could be anyone, it could be also be possible that there was no rat and that the attackers found a different way of getting that information"

"The boys are saying that Pucey, Corner and Anderson were quite nervous at the audiences" said Turner as if that was a casual comment.

Ron was a bit surprised but by the look that Harry gave him it was clear that his friend was pretty much aware of those rumours, "Those are mere gossips, nervousness is not proof of guiltiness"

Turner looked serious, Ron knew that he had friends at Azkaban and that he wanted to see things solved quickly, Ron himself shared that opinion but he knew that Harry wouldn't go after someone if he wasn't sure that the man was guilty.

"They should use Veritaserum, that could clear things up faster than you say Quidditch" Ron said.

"You know that we cannot use that without real proof, besides it will be very costly to put everyone in the office under the serum."

Both Ron and Turner nodded, the man with the blond beard continued his way.

As they moved forwards Ron threw a glimpse at his best friend, Harry had changed a lot after the war. His black haired friend was always the one taking the decisions but he was different now, he had acquired a very strong confidence on himself and every one saw him as a natural leader, even aurors a lot older than they were. There were even some rumours putting Harry as Head of the Office once that Redfern retired and if that happened then he would be the youngest person ever holding that position.

Ron smiled at the thought, his friend was perfect for the job. It would have to happen eventually, if not after Redfern then later. And Ron will be there being the right-hand of the Head of the Auror Office, that was not a small feat either for a twenty-three year old lad, he might even get a raise and have more serious thoughts about increasing the family.

At that very moment Ernie MacMillan came rushing to them.

"Harry! you need to come"

"What's happening?" Harry asked.

"When we got here tonight we saw the door of your office opened, there was a note addressed to you on the desk"

Ron and Harry exchanged nervous looks, "Did you bring it with you?"

Their old classmate shook his head, "We couldn't take it, there's surely a spell on it"

"Lets go"

Moments later they rushed into the huge building up to the Level Two, once there they went around the corner of the access lift to the Auror Office. The place was filled with empty cubicles now and the maps and pictures in the walls seemed to be the only occupants of the room, even so when Harry and Ron stepped in a couple of aurors joined them telling them the same thing about that note on his desk.

They went to the back of the place where the personal offices were located and in fact all of them were closed except for Harry's. Inside two other aurors were trying to discover what spell was placed on that mysterious note.

"Any luck?" Ron asked.

"No sir" answered an auror who seemed to be just a couple of years younger than Ron.

"Who was the first one to see it?" Harry asked.

"I was," said another young auror, it seemed like they didn't only had the less numbers but also the less experienced ones.

"Anything strange?"

"No sir, everything in order."

"Did you saw anyone leaving?"

"I crossed Adrian Pucey by the lift. He seemed quite scared." he answered and Ron turned to look at Harry nervously. His friend was surely finding it suspicious but not enough to blame Pucey.

"Well lets get over with it" Harry said.

"Wait mate! are you grabbing that? It has _trap_ written all over it"

"Calm down Ron, surely the guys already performed all the basic detection spells and if anything happens I'm in a room filled with qualified aurors, right?" Everyone nodded hesitantly.

Ron seemed doubtful, "I don't know Harry"

"It's the only way, it could be important"

Without waiting a second more Harry did a couple of detection spells himself and since he didn't found anything odd he tried to lift the note. At the touch of his fingers the note seemed willing to be raised. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it while Harry took it.

Slowly Ron's friend moved his green eyes across the paper and the colour from his face abandoned him, his eyes had grown big.

"What?" Ron asked, but Harry didn't answer until he finished reading and let the paper on his desk.

Harry turned to look at Ernie, "How many men we got?"

"Err not sure," Ernie seemed taken by surprise, "Maybe fifteen in the building, another fifteen outside"

"Keep seven in the building, place them at the windows with better view of the Atrium. At my sign, if I send it, call Redfern to bring back-up. This could still be fake. The rest send it with me to the Atrium." Harry said.

"Harry..." Ron asked dumbfounded.

"Come with me" Harry said exiting the office, "Ernie, you're in charge inside here. Remember, windows and main entrance primary points" he yelled on his way out while a very pale Ernie nodded.

"Care to tell me what the hell was on that bloody paper?!" Ron said once on the lift.

"A warning, of an attack here."

Ron was surprised only a bit, "But you said that the defenses..."

"If the informant is saying the truth they won't matter, we will have over fifty enemies coming our way through those fireplaces" Harry looked dead serious.

After Ron recovered he talked again, "It was Pucey, wasn't it? that prick!"

"I don't know, it was not signed, it looked like it was written by the Azkaban attackers' informant. He knows details about it that most people don't know."

"So," Ron continued on a lower tone, "do you believe it?"

"It doesn't matter, it is a threat and we should be prepared, specially after what happened"

Then the lift ringed as they got to the Atrium level. Outside seven our eight young aurors were waiting for him at the exit of the lift, surely sent by Ernie. "Bloody Hell! Ernie is quicker than I expected. These guys gave me a scare." Ron mumbled.

Harry give him a half smile and they all went out of the building with a fast pace. Ron turned back as the moved walked and saw people already moving at the windows, he really wished that this was a false alarm.

"What's this? What's happening?" Turner, the leader of the Atrium guys, asked when he saw them.

"Probably nothing but we need to be prepared. I have received a threat of an attack."

"What? Are you sure Potter? Where?"

"Here. Now." Harry answered, "I put people on the windows, prepare barricades facing the entrance"

"This is madness!"

Then, all of a sudden, green flames erupted from all the entrance fireplaces at once with a bursting sound. Turner seemed shocked so it was Harry the one to raise his voice, Ron and the seven guys sent by Ernie started lifting barricades without losing time.

"Everyone, listen to me, I need all of the Atrium defenses at my side. Now" Harry's magnified voice echoed.

The aurors scattered through the Atrium seemed confused by both, the fireplaces and Harry's voice. Still they said as they were asked.

"Who is coming?" one said surprised, "Is it the morning yet?"

"This is not a drill, prepare your wands but don't fire yet." Harry's voice continued flooding the Ministry's Atrium, "Defense position. I repeat, don't attack until I give the order. Those might be enemies. This is not a drill"


	4. The Ambush

All hell broke loose in a second.

Moments before Harry was asking to wait, to not attack until he gave the order, then the intruders entered the Atrium and holding fire didn't made sense anymore. The masked men had arrived without asking questions, shooting all kinds of curses and hexes even before putting their second foot on the ground.

"The Barricades!" Harry shouted tackling Turner to the ground as a purple beam passed just inches above them. Turner only thanked him with a weak nod, his eyes were wide, it was obvious that it had been a lot of time since the blond man had any kind of action.

"Almost there!" Ron yelled as he raised big stone slabs from the left wing of the Ministry towards the center, in the direction of the Black Memorial. A young auror named Parker was helping him.

When they finished Ron noticed that the three aurors who were doing the right wing barricades were still halfway through it so he went to help them. Once finished the redhead man moved his face around trying to understand the state of things under the blasting sounds and the spells racing above their heads, it was not good.

Harry was on the center, shooting stunners from one side of the Memorial, he was pushing all the forces to attack at different weak points of the attackers. With a quick glimpse Ron saw a few masked men down thanks to Harry's tactics but that was not very inspiring after looking three aurors down on their side of the Atrium, there were not many of them and each wand was pure gold.

One of the aurors on the floor had a look on his eyes than Ron had seen before, the face of the killing curse. He gritted his teeth and gripped his wand with a lot of strength, these aurors were very young and some were still in training, barely out of Hogwarts he knew.

"Ron? Are you done? I need you on the other flank" Harry yelled, Ron only nodded and bolted towards the other side of the Memorial commanding his own share of young recruits.

It was madness. Everything was dark, maybe on purpose, only the masks and the multicolour lights flying over the Atrium were visible. It was like a twisted version of fireworks exploding from one side to other, dozens of spells fired from each side even before the previous round hit on their targets. Ron could distinguish the attackers when the light of a spell hit near them, he knew that he had to focus first on the ones shooting the killing curses.

"There, over there too!" he was yelling to his recruits, "Parker! to your right!"

"Yes sir"

At that moment, and without Ron seeing it coming, Raymond Turner fell to the floor lifeless.

Cold sweat dripped from Ron's head as it hadn't dripped in a very long time. Almost all the youngest aurors were petrified in fear, fortunately Parker was not one of them.

"Don't get distracted!" Harry was yelling hysterically, "We still have a battle here!"

Ron could understand if the new guys were distracted, all what they had done were drills and this was a real battle. No, not a battle actually, a slaughter that was what it was.

They were outnumbered one to three, Ron guessed.

"Oh Mione" Ron mumbled thinking on his wife, on the last thing he said to her when he left her barely an hour ago. Regret hit him at the same time that he kept throwing curses towards the fireplaces. He should had hugged her more, he should had tell her one more time how much he loved her.

She was right after all, as she always was. It was always the Ministry, St Mungo's was surely a distraction. Ron wondered how would she react when she found out of the attack on the Ministry, would it be soon? or would it be until the morning? who would tell her? would she read in on the Prophet? would Ron still be alive? would Harry?

Ron's heart shrank by the weight of those questions. It hurt more thinking about her finding out than about his own hopeless fate.

"Who the hell are they!?" A brown haired bloke at Harry's side shouted in desperation, "Is this about Azkaban? We need back up..."

"Shut up and keep firing Bernard!" another lad answered him.

They were now below twenty fighting wands and the number was decreasing rapidly.

Everyone was already waiting for their final moments when a few lights rained down on the enemies, Ron turned back and he saw a few aurors from the Ministry's windows. Ernie MacMIllan between them.

"It was about time! About bloody time Ernie!" Ron yelled laughing and resting a bit with his back against the Memorial.

From their high position Ernie's guys were able to put down a lot of masked men pretty quickly and at the same time it gave Harry, Ron and the rest of the aurors at the Atrium a healthy space to breathe.

Harry and Ron got closer to talk about their plans and where it was best to hit. They also took the few seconds to _reenervate_ a couple of aurors who were only stunned next to them. Although grim looks too when they recognized the faces of the fallen ones.

"Ok mate, you should take the right wing" said Harry, there's a weak spot near the center"

"Already saw it"

Harry nodded, "Ok lets go before Ernie gets hit, the surprise should have passed by now and..."

BLAST.

Whatever Harry tried to say was lost because at that very moment the whole Black Memorial exploded in a thousand pieces, chunks of black obsidian rained down on them and Ron thought then that the rocks were never going to stop falling.

"Bloody Hell! what's going on?!" he yelled, he was shielded of the main explosion by one piece of rock that remained intact but he was thrown strongly to his side though. When he raised his head a fine black dust was covering his red hair.

It was as if time had stopped and suddenly he couldn't her the curses, nor enemies, nor the friends. It was only a buzzing sound and clouds of black dust.

Ron coughed as he found shelter behind one big rock and as the dust cleared he was able to recognize figures on the floor. Some of them soon started raising themselves from the floor, others didn't move and Ron didn't know they would ever move again. He couldn't see Harry but that was mostly because large pieces of black obsidian separated now both sides, he convinced himself that his brother-in-law was ok. He had to be, just thinking about surviving and having to give that news to Ginny tore him apart.

A new round of spells came to them, trying to take advantage of the confusion and fortunately a great number of _protegos_ were raised, Ron's included. He hoped that they could shield not only themselves but the guys on the floor too.

Then Ron felt the dread again as the first guy from the window fell all the way to the floor, the masked men were aiming to the Ministry's walls too. How long until they took down the few men that Ernie had there? Those men was what kept them alive at the Atrium.

All the world twirled at Ron's eyes. Blasting lights of all the colours of the rainbow hitting against solid but weakened shields, debris scattered around the Atrium, chunks of concrete falling from the Ministry's window, shouts of pain and mourn and Ron felt himself back to that horrible day. He saw pieces of Hogwarts gargoyles on every chunk of black obsidian, he saw killing curses on every spell, he saw Fred's face on every fallen auror.

"Death Eaters, they must be Death Eaters!" he mumbled to himself and putting a knee on the ground he started answering the fire.

The enemy didn't expected because they lost three masked men with Ron's first blow. A smile appeared on his face when he saw the young aurors following him, Parker was still there and he even gave Ron a thumbs up.

A few feet away there was a piece of the Memorial that still had most of its letter there, the golden engraving shinning. Ron thought that it spelled 'Weasley' and that was what caught his attention, however he could be seeing things too.

Ron was desperate, he couldn't put aside the thoughts about Hermione, Ginny or the rest of his family. He was feeling that it was only matter of time after all. They had fought before but never like this, not since the war, and still then they had more defenses. They were going to lose... there was no other outcome.

A lonely tear streamed down of Ron's cheek, taking the black powder with it on its way to Ron's chin.

"Ron!... Wh-Where are you?!" Harry yelled from the other side of the Memorial.

Even when his best friend's presence didn't change much he couldn't stop from smiling, "Right here mate, holding this side!" he yelled back

"Ok... keep doing just that!"

If they were going down, they were going together, and putting a good fight.

Then out of nowhere Harry reached him crawling behind the debris. His face was filled with black dust too, expect for his eyes which were covered by his round shaped glasses. The right half of his glasses seemed broken but Harry made a quick 'reparo' and turned to look at him, still throwing stunners at the enemy.

"There are so many of them," he said, he was having a hard time breathing, "I think I took a few of them down but..."

"I know" Ron stopping him.

After a short pause Ron took a deep breath, he was quite shaken too, "We have to do something mate, we can't die here" Ron said. He was thinking on Hermione, surely Harry was thinking on Ginny and the rest of the aurors on their own families. No one was expecting to die when they got out of their homes that day.

"We need back up"

"What about Ernie? You said..."

"Gave him the sign as soon as I could," Harry interrupted, "not sure if he has had time to give the notice, curses are raining on him too and if he goes we are doomed down here. Also he might not have a fireplace near."

"Blimey, guess we are really toasted eh?" Ron answered with a half hearted smile, he shot an orange spell that hit one masked man on the far left of the attackers.

"We need more wands, we need to let Redfern know, we need Kingsley too," Harry said, "We need... a distraction"

Harry turned to his sides, analysing the situation and Ron followed him with the look. They had just over ten aurors left, against thirty or forty of the enemies still standing and firing. "Wands ready! I'm going to make the distraction!" his friend yelled.

"Harry wh-what are you doing!... ARE YOU NUTS!?" Ron said as Harry stood up.

Ron tried to pulled him down but from his place on the floor it was useless, soon the shouts came and the spells against them decreased for a moment. The enemy was surprised too.

"Is Potter!" a distant voice echoed on a foreign accent.

Although before the masked men could react a white and blue light came out of Harry's wand brightening the whole Atrium.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry Potter's voice echoed on the entire hall and a massive stag raced towards the enemy, it was even bigger than Ron. It surely scared them.

"NOW!"

Ron didn't had to ask, he just raised his body a little and motion for every auror to do the same behind him, "EVERYONE! NOW ITS OUR CHANCE!"

The whole defense raised at the same time, firing endless curses and so many enemies fell that Ron could actually hear them hit against the floor. They were still many of them that were on the last lines that weren't hit or that covered against the fireplaces but Ron was sure that the move was amazing, more than ten masked men were down with the surprise blow and not even one of them was hit.

Harry, Ron and the entire auror group dropped back quickly, dodging the green lights that flew above them. They were agitated but smiling.

"Great move Potter!" the Bernard guy said.

"That was unexpected... brilliant!" one of the few elder aurors added, he was almost forty and with a light brown hair that went all the way to his shoulders.

Harry didn't answer and a moment later more surprise expressions were heard from the enemies. Ron raised an eyebrow but they weren't left with the doubt much longer since Harry's majestic stag was soon standing in front of them. It had returned.

With a soft voice and barely looking at the figure Harry spoke quickly, "Redfern, we have a situation. We need all the wands we can get. We are under attack at the Atrium of the MInistry. Outnumbered, we won't hold on much longer, quickly, help" he sighed the last part then turned to look at the stag again "Go"

The silvery stag then left looking for its receiver.

The enemies growled as the silver animal crossed through them once again, they were furious, Ron heard them closer, they were advancing. The hopes of beating a bunch of them at the surprise attack came down again with the lack of hope on Harry's message.

"Don't let them get closer" Ron yelled.

As the aurors resumed the fight Ron turned to look at Harry who was still sitting against the floor breathing heavily. His friend appeared to be drained, that was the biggest _patronus_ that Ron had ever seen him do.

"Harry?... Harry?... Harry!" Ron yelled and finally Harry turned to look at him, "Are you ok?"

The black haired man nodded and he turned over the enemy once more, he kept throwing curses. Ron did the same, he wanted to ask his friend to rest but there was no point in that. This was it and they had to throw everything they got. Maybe if they were lucky they would hold long enough to Redfern to arrive.

"Take that you bloody... masked pricks!"

Harry then turned to a couple of young aurors, "You two, what are your names?"

"William Hill"

"Martin Brown, sir"

Ron turned to look at Harry as he spoke again, "Ok, you have done an excellent job so far," he said, "I now need you to got back to the Ministry and reinforce Ernie, he has been losing men too. Find a fireplace on your way, send notice in case the _patronus_ was not enough. We will cover you"

The two recruits exchanged scared looks and Ron understood them. It was not about being caught in the fire because they were already way to close to the main door, they had been retreating a lot. No, this was about leaving a weak force with two men less. Even so Ron could see what Harry meant, the spells from the windows were turning less as less frequent and a wand there could put more people down than from ground.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like we can lose two wands here!" Ron said.

"We will be losing either way, the only way to hold them back is having more people on the high levels"

"I understand that Harry, but how much time would it take them to get there. If we let them go we might be down more quickly than you can say "There's the snitch!" Ron said only to make sure that this was what Harry wanted.

Harry thought about it for a second, "Do it! if help doesn't come, two more wands will make no difference! Besides I'm planning on retreating all the way to the door already, these rocks give good shield but soon it won't matter. They're almost here."

Martin and William nodded, everyone looked grim. It seemed like no one was going to make it.

"Harry can you and the guys put some fire on the left flank?" Ron asked.

"Are you going to give us a chance?"

"I have an idea"

Ron crawled towards the right side and cast his own _patronus_, a Jack Rusell terrier. It was no way as big as Harry's but it brought the required attention from the masked men to make them all turn him. Harry and the other aurors took the opportunity an showered their left side with stunners as Ron tried to shield himself from the enemy's attack aimed at him.

"That was reckless," said Harry once Ron crawled back, "But it worked, good job"

The move slowed them down but the masked men were getting closer, they had already past the memorial and the aurors a few feet from the main door now, they didn't had much time left and Harry was surely about to give the order to retreat.

At that moment all kinds of shouts echoed and red light flooded the Atrium from the fireplaces. Apparently the reinforcements had arrived but they had a hard time against the cloaked figures once the surprise was over, the floo entrances didn't gave them much cover.

"Merlin! are those the reinforcements?" one young lad asked in a good shock.

"Sort of," Harry answered smiled, "I think I recognize a few from Redfern's and Kingsley's personal staff. Not enough to be the proper reinforcements though, Redfern must be waking some guys now"

"I don't care who they are" Ron added laughing, "For me those are reinforcements! Take that you bloody Death Eaters!"

The new auror force gave Harry's and Ron's group precious seconds to move forward. They needed better positions, now that reinforcements were here they didn't need to retreat and there was a chance of grabbing the attackers under cross fire. Harry remained at the center, just behind the remains of the black memorial while Ron raced to the left.

And they attacked back. The enemies who for a moment had been surprised at their backs were now confused and without an obvious shelter for the spells coming from both sides. Ron smiled and when he turned to look at Harry he seemed more hopeful too. They were winning, he couldn't believe it.

Parker was beyond excitement, he as all of them had thought that they doomed and now everything seemed go going forward. Ron even sighed thinking that he was going to be able to see his 'Mione again.

"Weasley sir, we are winning," the young auror said,"I didn't thought I was going to say this but.."

He didn't said anything more because then he fell to the floor without any life left on his eyes. Ron was shocked and as he turned back he saw the rain of curses coming down on them, but not the attackers but on them this time. Ernie was not there. The Ministry's windows were firing at them.


	5. The Worst Place to Return to

One strike after the other the green light fell upon them. It looked as if it came very slowly, one shy gleam at a time, staining the darkness like a storm of green spears. Cold and certain.

"_Protego Maxima_!" Ron heard Harry's voice resonating all around but he couldn't place him at any point in particular.

The glistening blue unfolded above the crushed rocks like a sheet falling smoothly over their heads. It covered a big surface but as it extended away from Harry the strength of the barrier decreased. Ron who was on the other side of the battle had raised his own smaller shield of course, he did it without even thinking, trembling.

Everything was silent or maybe not but it didn't matter, either way Ron couldn't hear a thing, only his own heart beating roughly against his chest.

When the sound finally reached Ron's ears it came at once, violently. It was not the sound of yells or shouts, nothing like that, the yells were far away at the fireplaces, at a different world. What Ron heard was the sound of little green drops hitting the blue curtains and the sound of corpses falling to the floor with a thud. Almost with the same rhythm.

By the size of it Harry had surely covered himself with his _protego maxima_, maybe even one or two aurors more. Aside from Ron and Harry only one other shield was raised close to the redhead. Three shields, three to five people under them. Everybody else was on the floor.

The green light and the blue curtains faded and Ron heard that little voice on his head remembering him his training, remembering him the war. "Cover yourself!" said the voice in his head.

Ron turned around, most of the rocks and black debris were too small to hide him and the Ministry windows were brightening with green again.

"Weasley! over here!"

Ron turned desperately and a few feet away he found the auror who had made the third shield. An experienced one, maybe she was thirty already. Ron knew her face, she was named Helen Davies or something like it. The black haired woman had blue eyes that were urging him to hurry, she was covered under a golden sculpture of some old wizard that together with the debris made a decent shelter. Ron raced to her without thinking it twice, his wand pulling out a shield as he moved.

Whoever that wizard in the gold sculpture was Ron promised himself to look at him at a book later.

He had a moment to breathe after the second round of killing curses ended. Harry was on the other side of the entrance to the building, there was a young blond auror with him who had surely survived due to his friend's shield. They were crouched under the biggest remain of the Black Memorial, totally covered in black dust.

Harry was moving his green eyes desperately and when he met Ron's he gave a relief sigh. The whole space separating them was filled with rocks and bodies, young Parker among them.

They couldn't let the sorrow overcome them, this was not a drill, a distraction could made them be one of those bodies if they were not careful. They were not the same school lads that were surprised in the middle of the war anymore, they were trained aurors, they needed to be strong and let the mourning for later. They had seen colleagues die before. So with great pain both of them forced themselves to look away, towards the Ministry building and there they found the culprit.

Ernie was not on the windows, neither was Martin or William or any other bloke or gal who Ron knew. Almost twenty high spaces were covered by cloaked figures and none by aurors. This was a trap, another one.

How did they got access to the fireplaces inside the Ministry? Very few offices got direct connections like those.

Ron was thinking on that suspicious note sent to Harry and the fact that it didn't mentioned that important detail when the yells came from behind him.

The auror reinforcements on the entrance of the Atrium had been hit by the surprise attack too and they were being wiped out by the green curses that kept flying down on them. Oddly enough the curses were hitting masked men too, the guys on the windows didn't seem to care.

A few of those curses were still trying to hit Ron and Harry but their hideouts kept them safe for the time being. Ron wondered for how much longer.

"That was a close one" said Helen.

"I think that there's nothing closer than that," Ron answered breathing fast, "Thanks"

"No problem sir, I got your back" she said smiling. It was weird hearing her calling him sir when he knew that the woman was older than him. He didn't had a high position on the Office but the fact that he was Harry's right hand always grabbed attention, besides he was a war hero.

His returned to the battle field, the situation now was what to do next. They couldn't come out without being hit and staying there was suicide as the things were going.

"RON!" Harry's voice echoed suddenly on the madness that was the Atrium.

Ron was surprised and he quickly turned towards the place where his best mate was trying to avoid the curses. He was trying to tell him something, he was making gestures towards the Ministry building, Ron was confused he had already saw the bad guys there... or Death Eaters... or Masked Men... or whoever they were. Why Harry wanted him to turn again, risking himself to a hit?

Even so he turned and it took him some time and a couple of dodged curses to realize what Harry tried to say. At one of the windows there was a man without a cloak, laughing wickedly down on the dying aurors. It was Dolohov.

So they were the same guys of Azkaban after all.

In what seemed like hours they dodged and covered from curses. Eventually the real reinforcements would arrive but nothing guarantee them that they would still be around for that. At one point Ron saw Dolohov leaving the window and moving inside of the building and he knew that was not right. He was surely not going to come down, why was he leaving the battle?

Ron knew the answer before thinking it. He was not here because of the battle, he wanted something. It was all a set up. Could it be the same thing that Hermione was worried about? That time- thing?

"RON!" Harry yelled capturing his attention, "We need to follow him!" apparently his black haired friend was thinking something alike.

The main door was near to them but running to it seemed like madness. They were only four.

Harry turned to his back where Ron noticed three or four aurors not very far away. They were not from their group, those were from Redfern's or Kinglsey's guards. When the attack from the windows first came they had scattered through the Atrium looking for shelter and a few had landed near them. They were not close enough to follow to the door but they were close enough to hear Harry, they were close enough to cover them.

A heavy sigh escaped from Ron, it seemed like a run to the door was their plan after all. He let Helen know as Harry asked the scattered aurors to give them some time.

"On my sign!" Harry yelled to Ron starting to raise from the floor together with the blond lad, "NOW!"

And they ran. They ran faster than Ron remember ever running. They ran from opposite sides of the battle meeting at the door. They ran without even looking up, raising shields as they moved.

They guys on the back did a good job covering them. Big spells, not very powerful but distracting enough to give them a chance.

Then they were in.

The entrance was empty, no sign of struggle. Outside the curses were still crashing and they increased when another wave of reinforcements arrived, the real ones, with the Head Auror leading them. That made Ron wonder how the cloaked figures planned to escape. It was obvious that the full muscle of the department was going to arrive sooner or later, they couldn't be that naive.

"Well about time" Helen said and the blond guy, whose first name was Peter gave a shaking nod.

Redfern must have woken the entire department and brought it here, Ron didn't know if the news had broke publicly already or if a friend with contacts at the Ministry had let Hermione know by now. He hoped she was not that worried even when she got all the reasons to be.

The new reinforcements were fighting the guys at the windows, they were clearly superior but with the advantage of the high ground for Dolohov's men it would take a while before Redfern could reach the door.

"So now what sir?" Peter asked to Harry. The blond guy must had thought that the run was useless, if they had stayed at the places Redfern would had reached them eventually.

Harry turned to look at Ron and took a while to answer, "Stay here with Helen," he said, "With the Head Auror we have the Atrium already, cover the lifts, if someone comes out of them and you don't recognize who it is immediately, use stunners"

A worried look was exchanged between Helen and Peter, "Where are you going sir?" she asked, "There's no point in going up now, they will be defeated eventually. More aurors should arrive through the fireplaces in the high rank offices and force them here. If we all stay by the lifts we can catch them when they come down"

"You're right Helen but we're not going up"

Confusion was spread across her face, "But then..."

Harry stopped her, "No questions, this is important" then he turned to Ron and made a gesture towards the lifts.

Once there they headed to Level 9 without a word until the lift stopped. They pulled their wands out, "I told you that Hermione..."

"Is always right, I know" said Harry.

The lift doors opened but there was no one there, only the path to the black door. Harry seemed to shiver. They didn't want to go there again but they already had lost too much that night. What if Hermione was truly right? What if there was someone stealing something important at that moment?

Ron sighed heavily, "If you had told me that we were going to return here years ago..."

"You wouldn't have believed me?" Harry tried to guess as they got closer.

"I would had stopped being your friend at that moment" Ron corrected with a smirk, Harry gave him a weak smile and the moment he touched the black door he gulped.

The round room was exactly as Ron remembered. Black doors all around, handleless. The blue fire making things look even gloomier.

They were not intending to shut the door but then they heard steps and dodged a couple of purple lights. Seven men were coming to face them and one of them was Dolohov.

"It has been some time Potter!" he said still throwing curses all around the small room.

Ron and Harry made the best to dodge them and fire back but they were on the open and the space didn't allow for a lot of movement. Even so two masked men were stunned down even before Dolohov reached the circular room.

Dolohov and the other four were already in when Ron heard the entrance door slam. He knew what was coming.

The seven people in the circular room didn't stop firing as the walls spun around them and Ron was even able to hit one directly in the chest throwing him against the moving walls.

It was turning difficult to aim when the movement stopped. At that very moment Ron saw a man throwing a curse directly at him, even when the redhead managed to pull his shield up he was thrown backwards. It happened that there was a door behind him and Ron opened it with his back as he flew through it.

"Owch!" he whined as he hit hard against the floor.

"RON!" Harry's yells on the distance echoed but his friend was too busy dueling Dolohov at the circular room to go after him.

Dolohov and the man who shot at Ron were still standing, there were two other men on their feets too. A huge blond one who Ron recognized was one of those men.

Rowle, a the Death Eaters who was freed from Azkaban weeks before, came rushing after Ron when he went flying through the door. Ron saw him just in time and he raised his wand arm blocking the blond man's curse as he jumped back on his feet again.

The long room was very familiar, "Oh Crap! not again!" Ron whined looking at the brains floating in the tank at his back, green liquid all around them. It had been reconstructed exactly as he remembered.

When the door closed Ron saw the man who shot at him standing inside with them. He walked patiently and he seemed to be studying Ron. He had hair as black as the night and a very pointy chin, however it was his pale blue eyes what caught Ron's attention. Those were not normal, it was as if the man appearance fit perfectly with the Department of Mysteries, dark and coldly shinning at the same time.

The doors on the circular room where Harry was fighting Dolohov and another man should be spinning by now, Ron knew he had to take these two down before going to help him.

"Weasley I suppose?" the pale eyed man asked on a foreign accent.

"And what do you care?" Ron said dodging a spell from the man and shooting Rowle at the same time. The huge blond man avoided being hit.

The pale eyed man seemed amused.

More spells were thrown and dodged over the long room, mostly from Rowle since the other man didn't seem so interested in hitting Ron quickly. He even moved his wand lazily.

A purple beam from Rowle passed only inches away from Ron, then he heard the sound of a tank exploding at his back and he didn't gave it a second thought. He slammed his body against a door at one side of the room and left before he could see the first brain coming out.

Suddenly Ron felt himself falling through a few stone benches and when he stopped he moved his wand quickly to where he had entered the new room. No one came after him but he could hear Rowle yelling in the distance.

The whispers came then, silent at first but somehow going very deeply into him. He turned and he went colder at the sight of the new room. The Death Chamber.

He was on a large pit surrounded by levels and levels of stone benches and in the middle the bloody arch. The veil. A black tattered curtain fluttering even when the are was cold and still around it. Before he even knew it he was attracted to it and found himself standing a few feet away. He wanted to run in the other direction and never see it again but he couldn't.

A cold wave flowed through him then and he felt Sirius' presence stronger than ever, even the whispers sounded like him. He couldn't understand what they were saying but he wanted to.

It was then that another voice came, a younger one and that Ron kept very dearly in his memory. They were only whispers but they sounded like a smirk, like a laugh. His hand raised, only two feet away from the fluttering fabric.

Ron didn't know what he was going to do but a new voice reached him and he stopped. It was not a whisper this time but a memory.

"Lets go" said the voice and it was Hermione's voice.

He remembered. Harry had been here, all of them had been here and Hermione had insisted on going forward, letting the veil behind. He couldn't stay here and find what the whispers were telling him, it was pointless, he wouldn't find anything for him there. He had to help Harry, he had to go back to his Mione.

"Come on! Lets go" Hermione's voice came one more time and Ron turned his back at the veil.

The red haired man gave one last glimpse at the door from where he came, no one had come or was going to come after him. His blue eyes then found the door to the circular room and rushed to it.

Harry was not there, neither was Dolohov. Two men were laying at the floor, unconscious. His friend was surely at one of the other rooms, still fighting. How longer until Redfern's men joined them? It felt like a long time had passed already.

As the black doors swiveled again Ron started thinking on when he was heading. It was very little what he knew about the Department but if they indeed had come all of this way for a time artefact they could only be looking for one room. The next door that he opened led him exactly there.

This room was different from what Ron remembered, or maybe he couldn't remember it that well. It was still filled with gleaming lights and clocks but aside from that things had changed. A whole range of strange artifacts were placed on long tables, crazy things like size-changing balls floating around and a flask that seemed to contain pure darkness, the frask was transparent but the light in the room couldn't get it. In the center there was a small tub, it seemed to contain water but when Ron got close to it he noticed that he didn't had a reflection even when everything else did.

He was surprised of course, he blinked and watched again and what he found was more shocking. The reflection now showed himself a lot younger, like when he just finished Hogwarts. A few times he blinked and his age was always different; fifth year, third year, sixth year... first.

Slowly he moved back from that pool, moving his wand around. There offices at the sides which used to contain time turners, he didn't know what was in them anymore. It was becoming frustrating actually because he didn't know what he was looking for. What was that powerful thing that Hermione mentioned? The flask? The pool? Maybe that golden staff that was spinning in the corner.

"Looking for something?" a foreign voice came from the far end of the room, from the door that led to Prophecy Room. It was the pale eyed man.

Ron immediately raised his wand, "Where's Harry?"

A wicked grin appeared on the man's face, he gestured with his head to the room at his back.

At first Ron was startled but he soon heard the far voices and yells from the other side of that door, he could even see some lights flying over the shelves through open crack of the door. He started sweating, he needed to go help him but he couldn't let the pale eyed man get whatever he came looking for.

"You can't get away, by now we should have the Atrium and the upper levels!" Ron yelled, "It's only matter of time"

The man moved his hand aside as if dismissing something lightly annoying, "It was never or intention to win with such a few numbers" he said.

So it really was all a set up. What else could it be? They couldn't had really expected to take over the British Ministry with around fifty men.

"Besides," the man continued as he started walking through the far tables, examining the things there, like daring Ron to fire, "we're not stupid. We knew that even with our great plan things could go wrong, I wouldn't had come without having someone at the Portkey office to arrange something for us" he finished touching one of his pockets.

"The Portkey Office? You're lying!"

"What I can't have a guy at the Auror Office, one Unspeakable AND a someone at the Portkey Office too" the man insisted as he moved his eyes around the room, "You are a trained auror Weasley. It would be a folly to underestimate us by now. This was not rushed, it was planned for years and executed at once."

"W-Who?"

The man stopped and laughed slightly, "I think it doesn't matter hiding them now right, but I can't mention them all, they are too many you know. Pucey, Carter, Dawlish, Robertson, Creevey..."

Ron was shocked, "Creevey? You're nuts..."

"He did wanted his brother back for one, and well we kind of forced him too" said the man with a smile raising his wand, "Now if you are not going to help me search I would be grateful if you just backed off!"

A purple blast was thrown at Ron and he was able to dive behind a table. He gritted his teeth, still thinking on those names.

Spells flew over the tables, it was a delicate battle since neither one of them seemed to be trying to hit the artefacts on the tables. The man was really good and he managed to cut a big wound on Ron's wand arm. The redhead was unsettled, Harry was one of the best duelist he knew but he could still was hearing him battling Dolohov... what was taking him so long? Was he hurt? Did he needed him?

"Come on Weasley... you want to bring someone back too... am I right?" the black haired man said as he blasted a chair behind Ron, " A mother, a friend, a father maybe?"

Ron was gritting his teeth with more anger now, "Another relative perhaps?" the man continued, "...is it a sibling?"

"Shut your bloody mouth already!" Ron came out of the table at fired quickly at him, he didn't hit him but a bottle exploded behind the man and an orange liquid was burning his face now.

Ron didn't know what happened then but a louder explosion was heard and the room soon covered in total darkness. He remembered that dark flask.

The two of them kept throwing spells but they tried to guide them by the sounds, not even the curses and hexes were bright enough to shine over the black smoke that covered it all.

He was hit by a big hourglass on the head and backed away, his fingers touched something liquid there. The pool in the center.

The dark clouds cleared up a little, every thing was still black but at least now Ron could see the spells coming at him and the shape of the pale eyed man not very far.

"It is useless Weasley, he will return, and this time I will be by his side!" the man yelled, "I'll tell him how to win"

Ron was able to see the green light one second before it was too late, he dodged and fired back "_Reducto_!" he yelled at a stone table near the man.

There was a chain reaction and between the darkness and all the things flying around he wasn't sure of much things anymore. He felt himself fall completely into the pool and the liquid splash in the air. He didn't know what was up or down anymore. It was as if he was just falling down for a long distance, far longer than the pool's depth. He couldn't hear a thing. The darkness was gone. The world was blue and silver and shinning.


	6. The Journey From The Time Room

For a moment Ron thought that he was dead, like really dead. Everything was quiet, everything was black.

He couldn't remember what happened after falling in that pool but it was very possible that he had been hit by a spell. Maybe one of those green flashes reached him, maybe some other wicked blast did, even one of the many unknown artefacts in the Time Room could had been deathly and he would had never known.

At the end none of it mattered, not the how, not even the why.

All what was really important to Ron, all what really mattered to him was Hermione. He could almost see the man calling her by floo and telling her what had happened, he could almost see her yelling and crying and kneeling helpless on the floor. Alone. Just thinking of it tore him apart.

Would it be Harry the one to give her the news? He wasn't sure how much that mattered either.

Ron imagined that he was falling but his body wasn't heading down, he was moving towards his left at a constant pace through a very dark tunnel. He couldn't move his hands or feel his body but he didn't know if that was normal in dying, he hadn't died before. Maybe he wasn't dead after all, maybe he was just dreaming.

As he kept floating through that tunnel he listened to whispers, mute whispers, they were mostly Hermione's but some sounded like Harry or his parents or George or Ginny. Together with the sounds came the flashes of cold blue light, filling the entire tunnel, the gleam was as pale as that man's unreal eyes and it kept fading in and fading out constantly. Ron could distinguish images in those lights, sharp and clear.

Ron saw himself learning of the attack at Azkaban on one of those images and Ginny announcing that she was pregnant at the next one. Slowly his life passed in the form of ghostly and cold patterns. He saw his wedding and he felt his heart shrank at the nervous smile on Hermione's face, the pale blue patterns in the tunnel didn't do her justice.

When the images of the first time he saw little Victoire arrived Ron started wondering if he was really dreaming. He was floating bodyless of course but he could feel the cold in a way which he couldn't remember from any dream.

The day he joined the Auror force appeared and then the war. He tried to close his eyes desperately but it seemed like he didn't had eyelids either, he was forced to see all of it again. Voldemort's fall, Harry lying dead on Hagrid's arms, Fred's motionless body on the cold stones of the Great Hall...

Who was doing this to him? He didn't dream a lot and if he did he wouldn't dream about something so weird. Was this an effect of a potion? Was he still alive trying to recover on some bed at St Mungo's? Was Hermione crying next to his body?

Maybe he was not dead yet, maybe he was just dying at that moment.

"Oh 'Mione" he whined and was able to hear his voice echoing in the endless passage. Ron tried to go back to the other side of the tunnel but he kept floating to his left, pulled, dragged.

The memories didn't stop. Percy clinging to Fred's lifeless body, the fire in the room of requirement, the kiss...

"Merlin, it took way too long..."

Things didn't got easier when the final battle was left behind. He thought that he was going to destroy that bloody tunnel the moment he heard Hermione's yells and the images of him desperately shaking the door at Malfoy's dungeon.

That bloody locket that he loathed so much didn't took long to appear either, "I have seen your heart, and it is mine" the cold whisper made him shiver and then Ron exploded in anger as he relieved the images of himself leaving Harry and Hermione at the tent.

Mad-eye was gone and so was Dumbledore, then Ron saw Harry kissing his sister in front of everybody in the common room. Lavender came next. He wanted to turn away, he wanted to skip that part but he couldn't.

What was the point of all of it? Was he ever going to stop going backwards?

Sirius Black fell through veil and Dolor Umbridge was yelling about something that Ron didn't care when another idea formed in his head. What if something in the Time Room was giving him the visions? Maybe that thing that Hermione talked about or maybe something else from that queer room. Were they only visions or was he actually traveling back?

Ron dismissed the idea of traveling back, it was impossible. He was trying to convince himself of that when he saw Harry appearing at the end of the Triwizard Tournament and Cedric's numb body beneath him. He had to stop this, he couldn't keep going back and he couldn't stay there either. It didn't mattered if it was real or just a dream, he had to return.

The redhaired man tried desperately of walking back but the images were distracting him and dragging him further on the same direction, a younger version of himself was now exchanging yells with Hermione after that stupid Yule Ball. The dragons, the goblet, Krum, the Quidditch Cup all of it was gone as fast as it had arrived.

And still Ron couldn't stop moving.

The rat, Lupin, his stupid rows about Crookshanks... was it all ever going to end? what if he actually arrived to the point where he was born? what would happen then? If he was still unconcious in the outside world would he die then?

He saw Harry bringing Ginny out of the Chamber of Secrets and then Myrtle, the dueling club was next followed by Hermione preparing the Polyjuice Potion... He had to do something, he didn't want to go to a point where he didn't had Hermione in his life, what sense did his life had if she wasn't there?

After Lockhart was gone Quirrell appeared and with him the huge chess board formed on the tunnel. Hagrid's dragon shone on the walls and soon Ron was staring at the troll fight and the exact moment when he and Harry became friends with Hermione. He wanted the tunnel to stop and started yelling and moving uncontrollably even when nothing seemed to be happening.

Ron was sorted into Gryffindor and when he saw the blue image of Hermione appearing in his compartment for the very first time he panicked. He couldn't take losing her. Ron yelled so loudly and tried to shake his world so hard that he eventually ended up passing out of the effort. No other image appeared. Only black.

Right away or after a long time, he didn't know, he regained consciousness and the blurry shapes of the world began to form before his eyes.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked a familiar voice.

Ron didn't know where it had come from and soon he was hit by a sudden light and all the shapes were clearer. He was shocked by what his eyes were seeing then. The redhead was sitting on a train compartment, not different from the ones in the scarlet train to Hogwarts, there was a window at his right and a black haired boy with round shaped glasses looking at him quite confused.

"Ha-Harry?" Ron asked noticing the boy's forehead and the lightning bolt scar. But it couldn't be, Harry Potter was his own age not a young boy as the one in front of him.

There was something off with all of it, even his own voice sounded differently.

"Eh... yes, are you all right?"

Ron moved his eyes around trying to see what was happening. Was it real? Was this a trap? It didn't made sense, if the pale eyed man wanted to kill him he would be dead by now.

"Yeah I think so, what happened? where are we? where's Dolohov?" the redhead asked confused.

Harry's eyes widened, he looked worried, "Dolo- what? I don't know what you're talking about... We-we are on our way to Hogwarts"

"To Hogwarts?! why the hell are we... " at that moment Ron rubbed his face with his right hand and was surprised to discover that his hand was pretty small. Swiftly he moved his panicked blue eyes to the window of the compartment and he was shocked by his reflection on the glass.

Crap.

Ron was young too, like a kid. This couldn't be happening, was he dreaming? He pinched himself trying to wake up but it was useless, "Ouch!"

Harry was raising an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure that you're all right?"

"Err... yeah... what were you asking?" Ron said rubbing his head, he needed to play along with it until he found out what was going on.

"I- well, I asked if everyone in your family was a w-wizard" he asked shyly.

So first year. He was having a vision about first year of course, he could be really back in time. That would be a disaster, he needed to stay positive.

"Err... yeah, Mum has second cousin who's an accountant though, we never talk about him." he answered doubtfully waiting to see if there was any weird reaction on the boy but he didn't notice nothing weird, it appeared as if the boy in front of him was really an 11 year old Harry Potter.

Harry nodded, "You must know loads of magic then... are you sure that you're all right?"

"I'm fine, just got a little queasy for a bit, nothing to worry about." Ron said with a smile trying to sound casual, "... I have seen a lot of magic but haven't used much, I guess I don't have such a big advantage there" he said knowing what Harry was thinking.

The black haired boy gave him a weak smile. A few silent moments passed as Ron tried to remember who was supposed to talk then, he wanted to remain in control of things. It was difficult though, he remembered a few things that they talked when he first met Harry but not the order, was he supposed to? Would it be bad if things happened differently? Well no if it was a dream but what if it really was real? Ron shoved that thought out of his head rigth away, it couldn't be, it had to be a dream.

"I wish I had three wizard brothers, I grew up with Muggles and they were horrible, well at least my uncle and aunt and cousin are" Harry said after the silence.

"Well I have-... five" said Ron with a smile than soon faded when he turned to the compartment door, was Fred going to appear on on that door or did he already came by? Would the dream last long enough to see him at the castle.

Ron was pale staring at door which wasn't missed by Harry who raised his eyebrow once again noticing the redhead's expression. Harry was about to say something but Ron saw him and continued in a hurried tone, "Bill and Charlie are the eldest, they already left Hogwarts. There's also Percy and the twins, F-Fred and George" Ron sighed trying to remember the conversation as best as he could, "Oh yeah... they were all great. Head boy for Bill, Charlie was Quidditch captain and Percy was-is prefect now, the twins are also brilliant. I have a lot to live up to"

The redhead was nervous, he didn't know if his friend could notice something but it was best that he couldn't. He didn't want to say the truth, the boy would think that he was nuts if he talked about the future. Then something came to him, "Oh there's Ginny too, she's my younger sister. She's not coming to Hogwarts until next year" he added uncertain if he had mentioned Ginny the first time. It was difficult to say it without thinking on his pregnant sister and the fact that the boy seating in front of him was her husband.

"Oh, it must be nice to have such a big family"

"Err... yeah it is" Ron answered, waiting. Now what? Harry was silent again. Ron was supposed to say something more? He got the feeling that he was missing something. Then he felt his jacket move a little and he knew what it was.

Wormtail. Ron frowned and trying to remain calmed he pulled the rat out of his pocket, "This... This is Sc-Scabbers," he said glaring at the animagi, "I got it from Percy, he's just a stupid useless rat. Percy got an owl so I got Scabbers instead."

It was awkward to think that Sirius Black could be alive in Azkaban at that very moment but could he? Ron didn't know how big these visions were, maybe there was nothing outside of that compartment. Maybe it was just Harry and him.

After a while Harry started talking more about him, apparently he felt like he needed to after Ron mentioned his family and the rat. At some point he mentioned Voldermort but obviously Ron didn't flinched, "Some people are scared of the name... maybe you shouldn't be mentioning it around" he said.

"They are? who? I mean- why?... you didn't seem to mind"

"I-" Ron didn't know how to answer to that so he decided to change the subject and talked to Harry about other kinds of things, nothing that could made the boy think that he was crazy of course.

As the time passed he got a more fluid conversation but he also got more nervous. Things were way to real to be a dream, what if he really was back in time? how would he return? He didn't want to be a kid again, he wanted to be back with his wife. At one point he moved his blue eyes to the door wondering how much would it take for his 11 year old wife to appear there.

The sweet cart came and Harry of course filled them with candy once again. Seeing that cart and the woman increased Ron's fears about being sent back in time. Then they opened the chocolate frogs and Ron saw _Nicolas Flamel's_ name, this was turning way too real.

By the time Neville appeared Ron didn't know what to think anymore. He didn't made fun of the boy's toad this time, instead he kept staring at the compartment door with his hands shaking. Could it be possible? Was Neville going to return with her?

"What are you seeing?" Harry asked noticing him.

Ron was startled, "Err... nothing! Was just thinking about that toad... I guess.." He had his blue eyes fixed on Harry when he heard the door slide open and his heart skipped a beat.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," her voice echoed in the compartment and Ron paled, his eyes were big staring at Harry, he hadn't seen her yet. After a second he moved swiftly towards there and in fact his first year wife was there. She had her robes already on and the brown hair as bushy as ever, her front teeth large also.

"We haven't seen it" Harry answered since Ron was still shocked looking at the girl, Hermione of course found the sudden attention confusing.

"Eh... well yeah... Is there something wrong?" she asked Ron.

"NO!... I mean... it's... you look a lot like someone I know" Ron answered and after a weird look from the girl she turned back to Harry.

"Are you two from wizarding families? Neville is. Nobody in my mine is magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you.

Harry turned to Ron and the redhead wished he could say to him that she wasn't that bad but he was still stunned in his place.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.-"

"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon..."

Then Hermione's eyes founf Ron once again and was surprised, "Oh you didn't tell me your name"

"R-Ro-Ron, R-Ron We-Weasley"

Hermione threw a weird look, "Nice to meet you two" and she left with Neville.

Ron was not willing to say anything bad about the girl so after a moment Harry was the one to break the silence, "What house are your brothers in?" he asked.

"Gryffindor," said Ron, "Mum and Dad were in it, too. All Weasleys are."

The readhead knew that Hermione was not going to return, not now, so he explained to Harry about houses and something more about his brothers in a little more relaxed tone. Then the compartment door opened again and he couldn't keep from snorting.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at Crabbe and Goyle at Malfoy's sides. Ron had forgotten how much they looked like they're bodyguards but there was nothing they could say or do that would scare him at that moment.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said Malfoy carelessly, "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron rolled his eyes. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He moved his eyes to Harry then, "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Ron would had answer in that moment but he didn't want to miss Harry turning him down. When the blond boy extended his hand and Harry didn't take it Ron smiled.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," Harry said coolly.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," Malfoy said looking pink, "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up.

"Shut up you ferret" Ron said, he was gripping his wand now.

Malfoy turned red, "How dare you to talk to me like that, you don't know with who you are dealing"

"And with who exactly? Your Daddy? Your bodyguards? because you don't look that menacing really" Ron smiled gripping his wand, he was enjoying it, waiting for Malfoy to do or say the wrong things. And he knew he would.

Harry looked surprised for a moment but he backed him up, "Get out now, we don't want you here" said Harry.

"But we won't go now. We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs, Ron knew that he could just move Scabbers forward but he didn't want anything from that rat. In a second he took out his wand and without thinking about it he threw all three of them non-verbal Leg-Locker curses. Naturally they all fell to the floor shouting and Harry was left staring at him wide eyed. Ron had said he didn't know much about magic and there he was throwing stuff like that, he had messed it up.

"You useless fool!" Malfoy yelled on his way down.

"Keep that bloody mouth shut Malfoy, you don't want to eat dust, do you?" Ron said.

Harry was looking at Ron with great surprise, "How did you-"

"Fred and George, they do it all the time. I'll teach you later if you want, not that difficult really." Ron said quickly to him hoping that he won't ask nothing more.

The black haired boy was smiling at him when Hermione appeared on the door, "What's going on in here!?"

Ron was terrified and he quickly lifted the curses, of course verbally. "Sorry, they started it"

The girl was of course frowning as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle stood up, "B-But-... you should... how..." she was looking confused as Malfoy turned with a murderous glare to Ron.

"This is not over Weasley!" and they walked out pushing Hermione out of the way, "Step aside"

Ron obviously was enraged by it, and he walked to the door, "If you ever touche her again-!" he started.

Draco Malfoy stopped only a bit, "Ha! don't tell me that you like her Weasley!"

Ron frowned and pointed his wand at them at which they bolted away. When he turned to look at Hermione she had her cheeks colored looking as confused as Harry, "A-Are you fine?"

"I'm fine... but you shouldn't..." Hermione wa frowning, "Did you did that with their legs?"

Harry nodded.

"How... I mean... you could get in to trouble even before getting to Hogwarts! you shouldn't be doing that!"

Before Ron could apologize or say something else Harry spoke out loud, "Well we didn't got into trouble, right? nobody's here" Harry replied.

"But-"

"We still got some sweets Ron"

"I-I-I-" Ron looked troubled was Harry being the rude one, this was way too weird and not expected at all. He didn't know what to do, this certainly was different to what really happened in his first year.

"I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there." Hermione replied, "It's not time for sweets... or fighting!"

"We didn't started it!" Harry insisted, "It's our business if we have time for sweets also"

Hermione snorted and turned to Ron. He didn't want to upset her but he couldn't go against Harry either, if he did that what would happen? Would they still be friends? Ron didn't say anything and quickly Hermione stormed out of their sight. Ron's only option was to return with Harry feeling awful about his future wife, he felt guilty and he even thought about going after her. However he had barely crossed a word with her and that would look pretty odd.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." a voice echoed soon, Ron was still thinking about Hermione.

When the train finally stopped Harry followed Ron into the cold air. This was way to familiar to Ron and he thought he would never be able to be there again, even so the situation was weird and unknown, he needed to find out what was going on.

A familiar voice came then, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Ron's face beamed as he saw Hagrid's younger face over the sea of students.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Hagrid yelled as they followed him through a familiar path, Neville sniffed a couple of times.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" but Ron remained silent, he only looked at the castle with a huge smile remembering so many things.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron took one of those boats followed by Neville, Hermione came with him. When the girl saw them she frowned clearly thinking about choosing a different boat but Neville was already on it.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid but then she saw Hermione standing out of Ron's boat, "Wha's the problem? Need help to get in the boat girl?" he asked her but Hermione shook her head and stepped in, sitting as far away from Harry and Ron as possible. "Right then - FORWARD!"

They crossed the great lake in silence, Hermione glaring at Harry and Ron throwing occasional glimpses to the bushy haired girl. Neville was confused. Ron had already dismissed the idea of a dream, this was way too detailed and magnificent, he hadn't had any dream like that before. The cold and the water were quite real too.

Soon they reached the harbor and started climbing the stones steps towards the castle, Neville found his toad there, exactly as last time. Once in front of the very familiar oak door Hagrid turned to them.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. Ron took a deep breath, he knew exactly what was coming and still he was more lost than the first time he stood there.


	7. Talk to the Hat

Ron couldn't believe how he ever thought that McGonagall looked old back on his first day. The witch had her years of course but when he had last seen the headmistress of Hogwarts Ron remembered seeing a good number of grey hairs on her, the woman that now stood before the first years had her hair completely black and didn't look as tired as she would twelve years later.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

When she opened the door wide and gave them their first look at the entrance hall Ron realized that he was by far the less surprised face in there. It was not that Hogwarts walls and stairways had stopped being impressive but he was used to them, they never left him even after his last year there.

If this was really a dream it was way too detailed. He was really back in time, that was the only explanation. Ron shivered at the thought and moved forward.

As Professor McGonagall walked them across the flagged stone floor Ron wondered about what he was going to do. Could he return? He hoped so but he had to do it before he altered anything, time should not be changed. Hermione had said that many times.

The roar of the entrance to the Great Hall reached them and while everyone else was wondering what was on the other side Ron could almost see the magnificent ceiling through the solid rock. He was the only one who didn't doubt thinking that they might cross those doors, he followed Professor McGonagall, he knew the small room where they were heading.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Ron saw the stern look on the witch move to Neville and then himself. He was startled for a moment he thought that she was going to say something to him, that he knew who he was and where did he come from. However she soon moved her eyes away and talked again.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber and Ron sighed.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Ron almost jumped at Harry's question, he was really nervous even when he had been there before. He didn't had to change anything but how would he remember all he had done so many years before.

"It's a little test... so I've heard. Nothing complicated, they don't expect you to do anything."

Harry didn't seem much in calm with that answer though. He kept to himself thinking deeply on something and then he frowned looking at Hermione. The girl was only a few feet away muttering spells, or at least that was what Ron thought. His heart was beating very fast and then the girl turned to him for a quick movement and he was surprised.

Did she turned to look at him last time? Or was this about what he did on the train? Ron was frightened, he could had changed time already.

Then the screams came.

"What the -?"

Ron saw as the Hogwarts' Pearly-white ghosts glided over them immersed in their own ghostly conversations.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -" said the Fat Friar.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

They noticed the students then and the ghosts' attention turned to them.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar smiling, "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

Some mute nods came from some first years.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

Ron could tell him in that moment the exact students that were going to end in Hufflepuff, after looking at them for a while he could distinguish them all. It was hard picturing them so young but Ron knew them for a long time.

"Move along now," said Professor McGonagall with a sharp voice, she had returned already, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

When the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall the professor faced the students again, "Now, form a line, and follow me."

Ron took his place behind Harry in the line and from there he spotted Seamus. They walked out of the chamber into the Great Hall, Ron's eyes were the first to move up knowing the image that was to come.

The Great Hall's ceiling was as magnificent as ever, totally open to the heavens, or so it appear to be. The thousands of candles floating in the air brought pleasant memories to him.

Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Ron couldn't repress a smile. Then his eyes moved around the tables and his heart skipped a beat. There on the Gryffindor table two persons grabbed his attention, his brothers. The twins looked exactly the same and still this time Ron knew perfectly well who was George and who was Fred. He had lived so much time without Fred that it was simple now, he couldn't stop staring at him.

He had to though. The kids walking behind him kept pushing to continue as McGonagall had said, and Ron did so. All the way to the teachers table Ron was looking at Fred, he didn't know if his brother would notice that or if he would find it weird but he didn't care. Everything was good for a moment, it was like that bloody war never happened.

The sound of Professor McGonagall putting the stool on the floor caught his attention again and he got his frist glimpse at the dirty and patched hat. The Sorting Hat.

It took ten complete seconds for Ron to realize it but when he did he froze and his blue eyes opened wide. The Hat was going to know, he would reveal him, he would Dumbledore. Ron didn't want nobody to know, not even Dumbledore. He was on the right side but he hadn't really liked how the old man had done things before, he couldn't even suppress a scared glare at the wizard then. That was his first look at the teachers table.

Most of the professor brought him all kinds of memories but the most confusing were when he caught a sight of Snape. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel, the man had saved them all and he had so many qualities to arrive but Ron couldn't keep himself from thinking all the times he acted like a git.

Then he shivered, Quirrell was there too, Voldermort. Now what? Was Ron supposed to go back and leave things flow as last time with Voldemort around the students? What about Snape and Fred or even Cedric who was surely seated at Hufflepuff table now? Was he supposed to just let them die?

Ron was thinking about yelling to the whole hall that Quirrell had Voldemort under his purple turban when the hat started singing.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst in applause and it took a while for silence to return.

He couldn't. He couldn't change things, that's what Hermione would said. Still Ron saw Fred and was more conflicted than ever, couldn't he just warn him or something? Couldn't them have the same future but with Fred?

Ron felt so selfish at that moment and he turned to look at Harry, what about him? He lost people too, what about Sirius? Everybody else lost people and he was only thinking about Fred. He moved his eyes to the Hufflepuff table and he quickly found Cedric there, he was happy, he didn't know.

Harry's voice took him away from his thoughts, "So do we have to..."

It took a moment for Ron to understand but he nodded, "Yes we have to try it on,... I think"

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding the roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

"Hufflepuff" Ron thought to himself. He had last saw Hannah at a party next Neville, they had been going out for some time now. The redhead moved his eyes unconsciously to the scared round faced boy, he was so different at this time.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

One by one they walked to the stool and no matter how quickly the hat shouted Ron always knew where everybody was going to end before that. When Lavender's name was mentioned Ron shivered and tried not to look at her until she was seated at Gryffindor's table.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Ron was nervous, he couldn't had changed that already, right? He didn't know what he would do if Hermione didn't end up on Gryffindor.

The bushy haired girl rushed to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. The seconds before the hat yelled were the slowest he had had in a very long time.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron sighed in relief, in front of him Harry made a gesture that he couldn't understand.

As the line continued walking to the hat it was clear that Harry turned more nervous, Ron tried to calm him down but there was not much he could do without saying that that they were both going to be picked by Gryffindor. Or at least that was last time, Ron was the one in real trouble; the hat was going to know, the hat was going to know...

When Malfoy was picked in Slytherin he walked to his table shooting a murderous glare at Ron, he couldn't care less really, Malfoy was the least of his problems. What was Ron going to say to the hat? What was Dumbledore going to do? His doubts were soon interrupted...

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry stepped forward nervously, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

His black haired friend stood there for a while, the whole hall was tense waiting for an answer. Eventually the hat spoke and the right table burst in cheers. "GRYFFINDOR!" it said.

At the table Percy soon shook Harry's hand and the twins began making a party out of him, Ron smiled. He knew that he had to go back to his own time but at that moment he wanted to be there with them, at least for a while, he wanted to hear the twins talking again as only they could.

More names passed and by time it was Dean's turn Ron was beyond nervousness. Could he really destroy everything if he changed things? He would agree to go back but he didn't how, what if by the time he made it back everything was beyond repair? What if he ended up losing somebody else from his family?

"Weasley, Ron!"

Ron walked slowly to the stool remembering that last time it had only taken one second for the hat to shout, he was almost sure that it would take longer this time. He sat down and the old dirty hat fell gracefully over his eyes.

"Hmm, well, well... what do we have here?" he could hear the hat, as far as his memory told him last time he hadn't heard it, "We had met before" it was not a question.

"Y-Yes" said Ron without knowing if the hat would hear him.

"I see, well you're pretty far away from home... what should I do with you?... that's the question isn't it?"

"Don't tell! I want to go back but don't know how. I won't change things" Ron pleaded.

"Don't forget I can see in your head, you are not sure of what you're saying... however I can't help much with it either... difficult situation indeed..."

"I'll fix it, just don't tell Dumbledore, I'll fix it before he finds out" Ron's heart was racing, what if the hat didn't buy that? What if he turned him in to Dumbledore right at that moment?

The headmaster won't stop to think about it, he'll probably try to wipe his memory away but Ron didn't like that option. He didn't want to forget, he wanted to have all his memories when he went back to his time. He loved those memories.

"I don't say to the headmaster things that he doesn't ask... nor things that he doesn't need to know..." the hat remained silent for a moment then he spoke differently, "Well, we can't keep this going on forever... that's for sure. Your mind is in the right place Ronald Weasley... it is here of course, I can see it. Hope you take the best decisions - specially now that you are going to GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron was shocked he didn't expect to be released from that conversation so suddenly but a moment later he was walking looking stunned to the roaring table of Gryffindor. What was going to happen? Would the hat really keep what he learned from the headmaster? Did it saw his reasons to mistrust him or the way he acted last time... he didn't know.

When McGonagall called Blaise Zabini back at the stool Ron reached the table, Harry was clapping and Percy didn't took long to congratulate him.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," his brother said more pompously that he could remember, Percy was a little different in the future. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Ron let himself fall heavily on his seat as Albus Dumbledore's voice echoed in the hall. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

"Is he - a bit mad?" Harry asked Percy.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

It had a very long time since Ron found himself in front of so much food but without being willing to eat as much as he used to. He didn't know what he was going to do, he should maybe check on the library to see if he could find something in there but he didn't know where to start, he was not Hermione. Was there a book for time pools or stuff like that?

The only thing that he was sure of was that he was not going to tell Dumbledore, not now. The old wizard was very capable of helping but once he got on his office it would all be in the headmaster's terms. He had to try to fix this on his own first, he knew the future after all, he just needed to make sure that everything would go exactly as last time. How hard could that be?

Harry was eating eagerly at his side and looking at him Ron felt sad, he could use his friend help in this moment, he could use Hermione's help. However Ron knew that he couldn't tell them, not if he wanted to keep the future unchanged, they were probably too young to deal with what he knew either way.

Suddenly he found himself unable to stop staring at Hermione, she was way too young and she still needed to learn a lot of things but somehow that girl was his future wife. Hermione noticed the attention of course and threw Ron a weird look, he forced himself to look away.

Nearly Headless Nick came then and took Ron out of his thoughts, he was the only first year whose eyes didn't popped opened when the ghost swung his head aside. They talked about the Quidditch cup and who they were, Ron tried his best to remember, to keep the conversation as casual and normal as he could but once in a while he was distracted staring at many people around. He hadn't seen some of them in a while and he had thought that he was never going to see a few other ever again.

Fred was joking with people around him not far away.

Ron's eyes had moved to Hermione's and Percy's conversation about the school subjects when Harry caught his attention.

"Ouch!" he clapped a hand to his head.

"What is it?" asked Percy.

"N-nothing."

If only a scar hurting could be nothing.

"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked Percy.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Harry stared for a few moments and Ron had to suppress the urges to tell him that it was not Snape, it was never Snape.

After dessert were gone Professor Dumbledore stood up and addressed the whole room, "Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of Fred and George.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.

"He's not serious?" Ron's friend muttered to Percy.

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

Ron could almost see Fluffy, the three-headed dog, barking at them with its massive jaws.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. He gave his wand a little flick and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, it rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."

As always everybody finished the song at different times, the twins were the last ones and Dumbledore conducted them until the end.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

They followed Percy all the way through the familiar path, marble staircases and all. Ron was smiling remembering all the moments he spent there, he even enjoyed Percy's exchange with Peeves much more than the first time. Soon they were all standing in front of the portrait of a very familiar fat woman with a silk pink dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," Percy answered, the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room; cozy, warm, full of squashy armchairs, as ever.

The twins were not far away and Ron wanted to reach them but they had said their good byes from the distance and climbed swiftly to their rooms. He wished he had had at least a few words with Fred but following them would look weird and unconventional, he needed to keep things the same and he could surely see them the next day.

Ron's blue eyes followed a certain bushy haired girl all the way to the girls staircase and then he climbed to his own tower. Everything was just as he remembered, even the four-posters were placed in the exact same spot for all of them. He was the first to pick his, he didn't want anyone to grab his old bed first.

"How are you doing?" Ron muttered to Harry from his bed, he frowned at Scabbers when it moved around. He wanted to do something about the old rat but he couldn't, he wasn't supposed to change things. Ron gritted his teeth thinking on Sirius at the moment.

"Brilliant" Harry answered in a low voice and Ron saw him falling asleep almost instantly.

Ron smiled and let out a heavy sigh. He lay there on his his bed for a while, just looking at the top of it. He had to be very careful with what he was going to do, many things depended on him.

As he closed his eyes he wished that in the morning he could woke up in his real bed, next to Hermione, that everything since the attack on Azkaban had been a dream. He knew that was not what he was going to find but he didn't lose anything by hoping.

* * *

**Next Chapter: The Half-Blood Git**


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